It's Time to Face the Music
by MadBlah
Summary: AU story. Emily is a talented singer, and like many before her decides to use popular talent contest UK Idol to help propel her career forward. But she finds more than fame and popularity during her stint on the show.
1. Lucky Breakfast

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skins. No copyright intended.**

**- Emily –**

I woke up to my alarm blaring and clumsily reached over to press the button that turns it off, missing twice before finally silencing the screeching of the repetitive tone. I furrowed my brow in confusion as to why I had set it. Today was a Saturday, meaning I didn't have to get up because I didn't have to go to work until six tonight. I felt my eyes widen in panic as I remembered what today was and I took a deep breath in, twisting my body to the side and getting up to sit on the edge of my bed, wincing a bit as my feet hit the cold of the floorboards. I lifted my hands and gently rubbed my eyes, adjusting them properly to the light, before sighing and standing up to make my way towards the bathroom to shower. Just as I got to the door of the bathroom I heard the familiar sound of my mobile phones ringtone resonate around the room, and I spun around to grab it off my bedside table, rolling my eyes a bit as I saw that it was my twin sister Katie's name scrolling across the display, lightly tapping my finger against the screen in order to answer the call.

'Hey'

'Did I wake you up?'

'No, I was just about to get into the shower'

'Oh, well good, you don't want to be late, which is why I'm calling because I know you sleep in until stupid o'clock when you don't have work, and I assumed you would have been out god-knows-where with god-knows-who last night so I thought that I should phone you to wake your lazy arse up. You still want me to come with you today I take it? Because if you don't, I wouldn't mind going back to fucking bed to be honest...'

I waited patiently during the rant, waiting for the lull to answer her question.

'Course I still want you to come and I didn't go out last night by the way'

There was a pause on the other end, the fact that I had missed a Friday night out obviously surprising Katie into silence.

'Well, that is a fucking surprise'

I chuckled and glanced at the clock to see 7:45 blinking back at me in an angry hue of red.

'I'd better go Katie, I still need to shower and eat and choose what I'm wearing-'

'WOAH' She interrupted loudly, causing me to start a little 'Maybe I should sort that out for you, considering my expertise in that area, you don't want to roll up looking shit, first impressions count and you want to fucking stand out, you know'

I grimaced a bit, thinking back to college and the outfits Katie used to put together, my brain overrun with thoughts of frills and leopard print.

'Welllll' I said, dragging out the word 'I think I should go in something I'm comfortable in, I don't need to add to the nerves do I…' I said diplomatically, squeezing my left eye shut in discomfort waiting for her reply.

'Suppose' was all I got in reply, and I was grateful that she wasn't as brash as she used to be, although it wasn't completely gone she had mellowed out a bit, and considering her customer facing job as a make-up artist, this was probably for the best.

'Look, why don't you come here for about…uhm…nine o'clock? You can give final approval on the outfit, hair and makeup, and then we can head straight over for ten am, yeah?'

'Sounds perfect' I could hear the smile in her voice and felt glad.

'Awesome, see you in a bit'

'Bye bitch'

I rolled my eyes as I tapped the screen of my iPhone to cut off the call and carelessly threw it in the general direction of the bed as I went towards the bathroom for the second time that morning. I went in and looked in the mirror, continuing to stare at my face as I picked up my toothbrush from the holder on the wall and squeezed toothpaste onto it before beginning to brush my teeth. I reached over to my battery powered iPod dock and pushed the middle button on my iPod, which was already resting in the dock, before smoothing my finger round the wheel and selecting shuffle. I smiled as Filters 'Take a Picture' filled my bathroom and finished brushing my teeth before cranking the volume on my iPod to max with a swift flick of my finger and heading over to the shower, twisting it on and undressing before stepping under the hot stream of water.

By the time I'd hopped out of the shower and grabbed my huge fluffy towel off the rail and wrapped it around myself Lily Allen's cover of Naïve was playing and I hummed along, grabbing a second, smaller, towel and frantically towelled my head until my red hair was no longer dripping water all over the bathroom. I walked over to the mirror again and ran a brush through it, wondering at the same time what I should do with it today. This again reminded me I still had no clue what to wear and I poked my head out of my bathroom door and peered into my bedroom to see that the clock now read 8:20. Shit, Katie would be here in half an hour, she was always early.

By 8:45 I had managed to dry my hair and roughly straighten it, not so it was poker straight, but so that it looked a bit tousled. I decided to dress simply in black skinny jeans and a black vest, covered with a black military jacket that had silver buttons, so I accessorised with silver jewellery. I kept the makeup pretty understated with smoky eyes. I assessed my appearance in my bedrooms full length mirror and bit my lip, before nodding my head once assertively and heading out into my front room for the first time today, strolling through the open plan lounge and skirting past the dining table before going into the kitchen and heading for the fridge, opening it with a tug, causing the bottles to clink together. I grabbed a bottle of water and put it down on the side, biting my lip as I decided on what to eat.

I was taking the second bite of my apple when I heard three loud raps on my front door, and I jumped down from where I had perched myself on my worktop to go and answer it to Katie's signature knock.

'Take your time then bitch' she snapped sarcastically, strutting past me into my front room. I ignored it, our relationship having shifted along with her attitude since college, considering we had both grown up significantly since then, thankfully. She spun around as I shut the front door, and I took another bite of my apple as I looked at her to find her eyeing me up and down sceptically.

'Pretty plain, isn't it?' she commented casually.

'Yeah, I don't want my clothes to overshadow anything, you know, I just want them to see me for who I am, for my talent and stuff…' I rambled, and saw Katie ponder over this, before nodding her head.

'Fair point'

I smiled at her and carried on eating my apple as she wandered into my kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out the milk and dumping it on the side before heading to the cupboard above the sink and rummaging through it purposefully. I felt my forehead crease as I wondered what the heck she was after. She poked her head around the cupboard door and I raised my eyebrows in an unspoken question.

'Don't you have any Weetabix? And where's the Nesquik?'

I raised one of my eyebrows sceptically before realising what she was going on about and I laughed lightly, remembering our 'lucky breakfast' routine when we lived together at home, Weetabix covered in chocolate milk. On the mornings before exams or dates or interviews we would sit together and eat it, sure that it would get us through whatever it was we needed for. I looked up from where my gaze had shifted to the floor back to Katie and shrugged my shoulders.

'Don't have either of those things'

Katie chewed her lip deep in thought.

'Perhaps we're a bit old for that anyway' I chuckled again, nodding lightly in agreement, despite having been touched by her thoughtfulness. 'We should make a new thing…' She continued.

I beamed at her. 'Like what?'

'I'm not sure, but something more…grown up maybe' she giggled lightly, obviously realising the ridiculousness of suggesting we sit and eat cereal covered in chocolate milk at 24 years of age.

'How about a shot of vodka' I suggested cheekily, strolling over to my alcohol cabinet and yanking out a huge bottle of expensive vodka that I'd had for ages but never opened because it was just that…expensive.

'Sounds like a plan to me' she laughed as she walked towards the sofa and settled into it, grabbing the TV remote and flicking it on as I grabbed two shot glasses out of the cabinet and unscrewed the top of the vodka, filling each of the shot glasses in turn and screwing the cap back onto the bottle, placing it back into the cabinet and shutting the front of it. I picked up the two shots and placed one in front of Katie, who turned off the TV and picked up the shot, looking at me with a mischievous glint in her eye, a familiar look that she got whenever she did something like this.

'Well, good luck for today Ems' she smiled genuinely, adding 'Not that you'll need it' before clinking her glass against mine. With this we both brought the shot glasses to our lips and tipped our heads back. The liquid burnt a bit as I swallowed it, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut in a grimace, and when I opened them I saw that Katie had been forced to do the same thing.

'You would have thought drinking vodka neat all through college would have meant we could stand it by now, wouldn't you' I stated jokingly.

Katie laughed and looked at her phone. 'It's nearly half past, should we go?'

I nodded silently, standing up and walking back towards my bedroom to grab my iPhone, keys and purse. I strolled back into the front room and headed over to Katie who was standing by the front door, opening it and following her out before turning back around to shut and lock it. I turned to see that Katie had already made her way through the hall and was standing impatiently in front of the lift, glancing every so often at her wrist to where a watch would have been, if she wore one. I smiled a bit at her dramatic reaction to the lift not being there waiting for her, and I dawdled over to stand next to her, hearing the familiar ding indicating that the doors were about to open. It was empty, and we walked in, Katie pressing the button for the Ground Floor as I wandered to the back and leant against the railing. The numbers above the doors indicated that we were going to stop on the twelfth floor.As the lift glided to a stop I looked out of the lift, spotting a familiar face and my heart sank. _Shit. _I saw the girl's eyes light up as she spotted me and I plastered a smile on my face, one that I was sure didn't reach my eyes, as she stepped into the lift, Katie oblivious to what was going on around her.

'Hey Emily' she said, prompting Katie to snap her head around and look between me and the girl. I coughed lightly, a warning to Katie to save her questions for once we were out of the lift. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it pointedly.

'Hey you' I said, looking at the buttons on the inside of the lift, mentally sifting through my brain, trying to come up with her name, failing miserably. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow seductively before motioning towards the buttons 'Going down?' I asked. I heard a slight snort from Katie, but ignored it, instead carrying on looking at the brunette in front of me, who seemed to have lost her power of speech momentarily, as she stumbled over her words before spluttering out a mumbled 'yeah'. I let out a throaty chuckle, and looked forward at the lift doors rather than at her.

'So, how have you been Emily' She asked politely.

'Pretty good thanks, and yourself' I asked equally politely, hating the awkward small talk that I was going to have to endure for another ten floors.

'Yeah, yeah, good. Yeah.' She cleared her throat, and I turned my head to look at her, sensing she wanted to say something 'I expected to hear from you actually, after, you know…'

_Fuck._ 'Ah, yeah, been a bit nuts at work and stuff to be honest, you know how it is.' I was still looking at her, but she was avoiding my gaze. She was a really attractive girl with long brunette hair and striking green eyes, and I felt a bit guilty about never calling her back. 'Erm, I'm working tonight but if you fancied getting together one night next week maybe…?'

Her face lit up as she turned to face me, her smile showing off her straight white teeth 'Yeah that sounds good Emily'

'Alright, I'll give you a call or a text or something and we'll get together' I smiled back, inwardly wondering why I had just done that when I couldn't remember her name. I was grateful when the lift let out a soft ding to indicate we had reached the bottom floor and all three of us stepped out together, me and the-girl-with-no-name exchanging pleasantries before me and Katie headed towards the front doors and she headed over to the mail boxes. Katie waited until we were on the street.

'You can't remember her name can you' she struggled out in between laughs as we walked to where she had parked her car. I rolled my eyes, annoyed that she could read me so easily.

'Got it in one'

'You idiot' She continued while still chuckling, pulling her car key out of her bag and pressing down onto it, unlocking the doors of the small black hatchback in front of us. We both got in and Katie pulled away, still bantering me about what had just happened, asking for the details on how I'd ended up sleeping with her. We talked about it all the way to our destination and I happily filled her in, not only hoping that I would regain some sort of memory of her name, but also because it provided a distraction from where we were going. As we got closer to where we were going the traffic got denser and we had to spend ten minutes trying to find a car park space, eventually squeezing into one and stepping out of the car, falling into step with each other as we made our way to where we were going. Thousands of people were standing in a queue waiting to get into the building and I glanced around at the signage that had been plastered everywhere.

'**UK IDOL AUDITIONS BEING HELD HERE TODAY'**


	2. Nicotine Break

**Hey, just a quick thanks to anyone who is reading, I appreciate it!**

**I'm going to be flicking between viewpoints on this depending on how it goes, so here is the first of Naomi's chapters. I hope you like it…and I don't own Skins. **

**- Naomi - **

I pinched the bridge of nose between my thumb and my forefinger, squeezing my eyes shut and flaring my nostrils simultaneously. I could hear JJ snickering next to me and Cook trying to cover his laughs with a cough, pretty unsuccessfully. I let go of the bridge of my nose and glanced at Effy who was silently looking on, only the slight hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. I rolled my eyes. _Obviously I am going to have to deal with this. _I stuck my hand into the air, looking to the right of the audition room to make sure that Thomas had noticed the signal, and sure enough the music came to an abrupt end along with the screeching of the boy standing in front of us. I coughed, and looked up at the nervous looking gangly guy standing in the middle of the stage.

'Josh, is it?'

'Err, yeah'

'Josh…' I paused before continuing, 'That was absolutely dreadful. Seriously, that was quite possibly the worst I have heard out of all the auditions so far'

He looked down at the ground in front of him, visibly upset at what I had said, but choosing not to defend himself. I sighed and shook my head.

'The people who are telling you that you can sing, that you are talented…they are lying. They could well be trying to make a fool of you. Whoever they are, they aren't your friends.'

Cook coughed beside me, deciding that this was his cue to intervene having finally stopped laughing at Josh's dreadful rendition of Cry Me a River.

'Yeah mate, that wasn't the greatest audition. I'd probably go 'ome, and maybe work on your vocals a bit or, maybe, find something that you're good at. Something you have a more...natural…talent for.' He stopped talking and glanced at me, shrugging at the lack of reaction his words got out of the boy, who was still looking at the ground. At this point JJ decided to step in,

'Err, yeah, Josh…' Nothing. 'JOSH' JJ shouted, making the boy jump and look up at him, which is when the tears in his eyes became apparent. I swallowed, glad that I had said my piece already and wouldn't have to deal one-on-one with the waterworks. 'Josh, you are a really nice lad, and I'm sure you must have been very nervous, and you are very brave for, you know, coming down here today, but, to be honest Josh, it wasn't the best performance of that song, and that song is, you know, a song that has been pretty popular…'

I rolled my eyes at the way they were trying to sugar coat the performance we had just been forced to endure. I nudged Effy in the ribs to let her know that we should cut this short now, prompting her to pass along the nudge to JJ. He stopped talking immediately and looked down at the sheet of paper he had in front of him, before grabbing the glass in front of him and taking a swig of his mango juice.

Effy piped up 'Sorry Josh, it's four no's' She said calmly, not even bothering to critique the performance, or even ask us if it was a no we wanted to give. I smiled at this, glad that there was someone else as cutthroat as me on the judges table. With those words the teary boy nodded his head and walked out of the room via the exit door on the right of the judges table as we all watched him go. As he exited i heard Anthea yell 'CUT', prompting all of the cameras around us to grind to a halt as she came strolling towards us with a grin on her face.

'Well, that was…awful. Fantastic television though. So, that's a million auditions down, a million to go.' She said cheerily.

With this, I huffed and pushed my chair out from under me, standing up and stretching as I made my way around the judges table followed by Cook, Effy and JJ. We continued towards the fire exit on the left of the room and I shoved it open forcefully before stepping out into the alleyway it led into, where a makeshift roof had been put up to protect us from the elements as we smoked. Cook pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his grey trouser pocket and held the pack up to me to take one. I did, and he passed one to Effy before taking one out for himself and sparking it up with an expensive silver lighter that had 'Cook' engraved along the side in an italic script. I plucked it out of his fingers and lit my own, taking a long drag and exhaling slowly, enjoying the sensation after the morning we had had. Cook chuckled.

'That bad, huh?' He asked, a grin spread across his face.

'You were in there Cook, its shit. Why did Anthea even add Bristol to the audition locations?' I commented irritably, kicking at a loose pebble in the alley sending it careering away from me noisily. No-one answered me so I looked up to see Cook hugging Effy into his side, and she was just resting there, her blue eyes catching mine.

'Dunno' she answered lazily, pulling on her cigarette.

'Trying to get an accurate cross section of UK talent…at the end of the day, it is called UK Idol' JJ commented offhandedly from where he was facing the brick wall of the neighbouring building, tracing his finger along the concrete between the bricks.

I let out a tut at this reasonable explanation and thought back through the auditions we had already done today. We had sat through what felt like hundreds of auditions since 9am, and had put through 6 people, all of which probably wouldn't make it through boot camp and had been put through without a yes from me. I straightened out my grey pencil skirt and balanced my cigarette between my lips whilst I did the same to my shirt, which was a shade of blue specifically chosen to bring out my eyes, with a white collar and cuffs. I looked at how many buttons my stylist had left unfastened and furrowed my brow, considering doing one up when Effy reached over and grabbed my hand, effectively stopping me.

'It looks good the way it is, what's the point of having them if no one ever gets to see them, eh?' she said, raising one eyebrow at me, her eyes sparkling with mischief, daring me to dispute what she has just said. I let out a cough and wriggled my hand from her grip, pulling my cigarette from between my lips and narrowing my eyes at her, not saying anything. She smiled at me and i rolled my eyes, eventually smiling back at her. Cook had been fiddling with his phone during the exchange and looked up,

'The plan for tonight is dinner at the hotel, which is supposed to be the best food in the city, before heading into the town centre and hitting…' he paused as he looked back down to his phone 'Tonic. Supposed to be the coolest place in Bristol, according to my sources' he said, waggling his eyebrows, indicating that former conquests were probably pointing him in the right direction. Effy stared at him through slightly narrowed eyes from where she was still standing curled into his side and he looked down, the grin slowly dissipating from his face, and he continued 'They have a wicked VIP area, it can be totally sealed off from the crowds if we want it to be more private, for whatever reason' he leant down and kissed Effy on the lips, and she smiled into the kiss, causing me to look away so as not to intrude on their moment. 'And we're on the list, obviously.' Cook added, as I turned my head back round to look at him.

'What about getting in and out…?' I asked.

'We've got to go in through the front, it's good press for the fact auditions are under way and lets the public know the show will be starting up again soon, but we'll leave through the back, so the press don't get the shots they actually want' Effy said knowledgably, chuckling at her final comment. We had all been on the scene for long enough to know how it worked, how to play the press to our own advantages.

I nodded and looked over towards a noise I heard along the alley, and spotted a photographer trying to catch shots of us. I rolled my eyes for what felt like the billionth time that day just as Anthea stuck her head out of the fire exit.

'Ready guys? The quicker we get this done, the quicker you can go and do whatever you lot do in your downtime' she said sarcastically, knowing exactly what it was we did in our downtime.

We all, apart from JJ, took a final pull on our cigarettes and flicked them away, catching each other's eyes and smiling, knowing that tonight would be a good night. _Even if we are stuck in Bristol, _I thought_._

We all meandered back into the audition room and took our seats behind the desk, Cook, Me, Effy then JJ, from left to right looking out, as we always sat. Our drinks had been refilled and I took a sip of my Diet Coke as Anthea walked towards us.

'So, a little status update on the day so far. You're all doing great, I'm really pleased with the footage we have, although if we could send a few people through every once in a while, that would be okay too' She chuckled. 'Although the talent here has been...lacking, somewhat, I'm sure this afternoon will pick up. Now, Naomi, you're coming out with some excellent stuff, keep it up, and Effy, your technical advice has been brilliant too…and that isn't favouritism, your vocal pointers simply have been spot on' She chuckled again and looked at her daughter with pride in her eyes. I always found it ironic that someone who spoke so few words could become such a talented vocal coach. 'Cook and JJ, good stuff, way to cushion Campbell's blows' she walked away laughing and I scowled.

Anthea was head of StonemTV, the production company behind UK Idol, and the show was one of Antheas proudest work achievements to date, with a primetime Saturday night slot and a regular audience of at least ten million in the UK. She oversaw every aspect of it personally and was involved in everything to do with the show. The audition shows were, in her eyes, the most important element. It was essential that the right acts went through to the later stages so that when it came to the live shows, and therefore the public's vote, the acts on stage made the public want to pick up the phone. This is why she had picked her panellists carefully. Effy is one of the country's best vocal coaches and has worked with the best artists from all over the world, her appointment not just an act of nepotism as the media have tried to state in the past. Cook is a talented music producer, which is where he met Effy three years ago whilst they were working together with the same guy, who is now a double platinum selling artist. Cook is also popular with the media, having provided them with thousands of column inches in his younger days due to his excessive partying, womanizing and fighting. All of which stopped when he met Effy, who effectively calmed him down and was, as Cook himself puts it, 'the best thing that ever happened to him', although this sentimental statement is usually followed by a lewd comment. JJ is a musician, and can play anything from the piano to the harp, although he states his favourite instrument as the ukulele, but just because it helped him snare his girlfriend Lara, who he has dated since forever. I am the owner of CampbellOne, the music label that the winner will sign to when they win the show and also the employer of all three of the other panellists. A record deal worth one million pounds is the much sought after prize of UK Idol, and the two previous winners from the two previous series were still currently thriving thanks to their connections with my label, with the help of me and my extensive team of employees across the globe who were among the best in the business.

I was pulled out of my own thoughts as Anthea yelled 'ACTION' and I looked up towards the door as two guys swaggered in wearing matching flat peaked hats and orange Adidas tracksuits. They can't be any older than 17, and have the wispy beginnings of moustaches growing on their upper lips. I looked across at Effy again and pursed my lips in a desperate bid to control my laughter at the ridiculous appearances of these guys, to see her pulling a similar face, her eyes betraying her slightly.

'Alright lads, names please' Cook said nonchalantly.

'I'm Flash an' dis is Loopz' one of them said in a thick London accent that I was certain was put on.

'Yeah? What are you goin' to be singing today then lads?' Cook asked incredulously, the beginning of a smirk playing on his lips.

'Dizzie Rascal'

I carried on controlling my laughter, noting that the rest of the room was biting thier lips in an attempt to do the same, and looked down at the papers in front of me, grabbing my pen and beginning to doodle in order to distract myself.

'Alright' Cook concluded, a fully-fledged smile on his face, turning to signal Thomas to start the music.

'Hang on' JJ interrupted. 'What are your actual names?' he asked curiously, looking between the boys with interest.

'Err…well' the lad who had been speaking stumbled over his words, suddenly less confident than before, and a flush hit his cheeks, as he shuffled from one foot to another, finally mumbling,

'Err, well, I'm Stuart'

He paused and looked at the orange clad boy next to him who was looking back at Flash aka Stuart with a look of horror etched on his face,

'And he is...' He stuttered again before shaking his head in some form of resignation 'this is Francis…'

And with that, everyone in the room collapsed with laughter.


	3. Contestant 11345

**A/N – Thanks to everyone who is reading, reviewing, alerting etc. This is my first attempt at anything like this so it's good to know people want to read it! It'd be good to hear what you think of it, any thoughts on the writing, the characters and so on. It's back to Emily's POV, this chapter features some Panda and some Freddie…sorry to disappoint but there is no Naomi in this chapter. They'll meet in the next chapter, promise.**

**I don't own Skins or the characters…no copyright intended. **

**- Emily - **

I glanced down at my phone and sighed when I saw that it read two o'clock. We had been queuing for four hours and had only just made it inside the foyer of the venue where the auditions were being held. There were two people in front of us in the queue for picking up my audition number, and then we were going to have to move into another area where they were holding everyone before they finally made it into the audition room to face the judges. I chanced a look at Katie who had been getting more and more agitated as the day had worn on.

'You okay Katie' I asked her, injecting some cheer into my voice

'Yeah, fucking super, thanks Emily' she remarked sarcastically before turning around and surveying the crowds still outside behind us, and then looking forward into the seating areas where hundreds more people were milling about, some of them practicing, others sitting nervously jiggling their legs up and down with nerves. 'Argh, imagine having to sit and actually listen to all of these people. Most of them look like they couldn't carry a fucking tune in a bucket. And even if they COULD, they just don't look the part…' she trailed off, and I followed her gaze to a girl who was standing against the wall wearing a hideous muddy brown coloured dress paired with baby pink Ugg boots. I pulled a face.

'Yeah, but there's plenty of fit guys in here, why don't you just concentrate on them' I joked, earning myself a slap on the arm.

'Yeah, Danny would really appreciate that wouldn't he' She giggled.

'No harm in looking.' I added, kind of hoping one of the guys would catch her eye, because frankly her current boyfriend was a class A plonker. He played football for Bristol but acted like he was Manchester United's top signing, and sported a perma tan, blonde highlights and diamond ear studs. Katie had met him one night in Mist, a notorious hangout for Z-List celebrities and low league sports men, and had made it her mission to pull him so that she could get the title of being a WAG. And, being Katie Fitch, she got her man.

'**NEXT' **

I glanced up and realised it was my turn, so I walked forward and dealt with an efficient middle aged woman who took down my details hurriedly on a sheet of paper. After asking me a series of questions she handed me a sticker with a five digit number printed on it and ushered me away before yelling out another sharp 'next'. I wandered over to where Katie was stood and looked out into the room hoping to spot two empty seats. It took a little while, and when I did I grabbed Katie's wrist and yanked her in the direction of them, my legs pleading for some relief after hours stood up. When we reached the free seats I sank into one and let out a sigh of relief, followed by Katie who did exactly the same thing. I chanced a look at the guy sitting in the chair next to me who was balancing a guitar against his knee and looking down at his iPod, scrolling through the tracks. I leant forward a bit to get a better look at him, and sure enough, recognised the guy and gave him a shove in the shoulder, earning myself a surprised look from Katie, thinking that I had just punched a total stranger.

'Freddie!'

'Ems!' Freddie answered in surprise, a genuine smile clouding over his features. He slid his headphones down from his ears and pulled them around his neck, moved his guitar onto the ground and pulled me into a hug.

'How've you been Fred's?' I asked, still encased in his arms. He let me go and ran his hand through his floppy dark hair, and smiled,

'Really good thanks, I'm working at a nightclub now, behind the bar, but they let me gig every now and again which is awesome considering the place is pretty popular'

'That's good Fred, really good'

'You still at The Bristol?' he asked with a genuine interest.

'Yeah, I run that show' I joked. 'I actually did get promoted to Sous Chef, so I don't run plates anymore, I oversee the kitchen, make sure the food looks and tastes good, you know. Get to boss people around too, you're lucky you left' I quipped.

Freddie laughed 'I always knew you'd end up working your way up that ladder, that's why I got out while I could'

'You know what they say, if you can't stand the heat…'

'Get out of the kitchen' we chorused in unison, and we were still giggling at the inside joke when I heard Katie cough pointedly beside me causing me to spin around to face her.

'Oh hey, I'm Katie, your sister who has sat with you for about 12 hours and who you now feel it is okay to ignore' she said, holding out her hand to me in a pretend act of introduction to highlight the sarcasm dripping off the words she had spoken.

'Sorry Katie, Fred, this is Katie, my delightful twin sister, Katie, this is Freddie, we used to work together at The Bristol' I said, leaning back in my seat so that they could lean across me to shake hands as a way of introduction. As I did so I watched Katie as she raked her eyes over Freddie, taking in his appearance. Freddie was a good looking guy, with tanned skin and a stylishly tousled haircut. He was dressed in faded blue jeans, white converses and a red t-shirt with short sleeves that showed off his tan and his toned arms. His headphones were still hanging carelessly around his neck and he looked effortlessly cool. She seemed appreciative of what she saw and I raised my eyebrow, my gaze wondering back over to Freddie who seemed to be taking in what he saw as well, and a flirty smile graced his lips.

'Hey Katie, nice to finally meet you'

I started, and looked at Freddie with panic in my eyes, hoping he wouldn't let her know that I had told quite a few stories about her to the kitchen staff for cheap laughs. He flicked his eyes over to me and raised both his eyebrows at the same time before letting go of my sisters hand and sitting back in his chair as Katie purred back her own pleasantries before leaning back too. I looked at Freddie with gratitude in my eyes that he hadn't let the cat out of the bag. He and Katie began to have a conversation across me, exchanging facts about what they did for a living and where they went to college. During the conversation I gestured for Katie to switch seats with me, which she did without ever breaking her eye contact with Freddie, and their conversation continued to flow freely with Katie letting out the occasional flirty giggle whilst lightly brushing Freddie's arm. I looked down to the floor and smiled inwardly, then noticed Freddie's guitar still lying on the floor. I reached down and picked it up, balancing it on my knee and beginning to play it quietly, tapping my feet as I did.

'That's whizzer!'

I stopped playing and looked up, flicking my head back as I did so to move the hair that had fallen into my face as a consequence of being leant over the guitar. I felt my eyes widen as I noticed a guy standing in front of me with a camera pointing in my face, and none other than Pandora 'Panda' Moon, famed TV presenter.

'Err, thanks.' I mumbled, looking over to where Katie was sitting hoping she'd spin round and save me, but she was too engrossed in her conversation with Freddie. I was on my own.

'I'm Panda, mind chatting to us for a bit?' she said excitedly.

'I know, and of course not' I smiled.

'Wicked. What's your name?'

'Emily…Emily Fitch'

'Well, hey Emsy'

I cocked my eyebrow at the over familiarity, but couldn't help but smile at Pandora. She made me feel comfortable in her presence, and I figured that was why she was in this role.

'So, are you nervous?' She asked, widening her eyes dramatically towards the camera which was still poised in our direction, some faceless cameraman stood behind it capturing everything in front of him.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm and shook my head.

'No, not really, more excited than nervous. Although obviously it is a little bit daunting…' I replied as I waved my hand at the hundreds of people sitting around us.

Panda nodded and smiled 'Absolutely. So, who are you most looking to impress?'

I furrowed my brow at the question and cocked my head to the side, not having thought about this at all.

'Huh, good question'

Panda beamed, obviously taking this as a great compliment to her interviewing skills, and waited patiently for my answer.

My mind ran over the four panellists and I thought about each one in my head in turn. It definitely wasn't JJ; he seemed like a genuinely nice guy who was complimentary even if you weren't that good. Cook didn't intimidate me and he seemed like a nice enough guy too, if a bit lewd at times. I wasn't particularly bothered about impressing him, figuring he'd be impressed if I thrust my chest forward enough. This left Effy Stonem and Naomi Campbell. I thought about Effy, and having watched previous series it didn't go unnoticed by me that she was pretty intense, but I figured I could handle that, at least she wasn't like Naomi Campbell, who made a point of telling you if she didn't like you. I figured she was the one to impress, the most powerful person sitting at the judges table. Plus, she was hot.

'Probably Naomi Campbell' I said, looking back over to Pandora.

'That seems to be the general consensus today Emsy' She giggled, and I chuckled along with her, caught up in the infectiousness of her laugh. 'Well, Emily Fitch, we'd better be moving on. Hope you have a whizzer time in there with the judges and we'll hopefully see you again!' she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back, pulling a comedy surprised face at the camera, prompting a small laugh from the cameraman. Panda let go of me and smiled before grabbing him and moving along the row to find another unsuspecting victim to interrogate.

I turned towards where Katie and Freddie were sat.

'Um, HELLO' I stated, waving my hands in front of Katie's face.

She blinked at my hand and looked annoyed when she turned her face to meet mine.

'What?'

'Pandora Moon just came over and interviewed me'

'Really?' She said, craning her neck around until she spotted her, letting out a squeal and looking back at me 'How'd it go?'

'It went well, cheers for being there with the moral support though' I said, rolling my eyes for Freddie's benefit, who seemed amused at our exchange.

'I could have been on TV, fuck it' She commented. Freddie let out a laugh at this and Katie turned around, looking sheepish for an instant. 'Although who cares about that, really' She said, prompting Freddie to smile warmly at her.

'**NUMBER 10765, TWO MINUTES AND YOU'RE UP'**

I grabbed my number sticker off my seat and sighed, it wasn't me.

'It's me' Freddie commented lightly, grabbing his guitar from where I had placed it down and smiled at me and Katie, 'Wish me luck ladies'

'Good luck Freddie' we said in unison.

He laughed again and reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out a brown leather wallet and opening it, sifting through it for a second before shuffling out a business card and handing it to me.

'This is where I work now, you two should head over tonight, it's the place-to-be on a Saturday night. I'm working, but I finish at ten so we can hang out then if you like, I can get your names put on the list for queue jump and VIP. Perks of the job' He added cheekily.

I smiled at him and looked at Katie who nodded her head at me as a confirmation that she was up for this.

'Sure thing Fred's, I finish work at 9 tonight, so we'll both head over for ten'

'Nice, good luck with your audition'

'Thanks, you too'

I watched him wander through the crowds and follow one of the StonemTV people through a set of double doors.

'He. Is. Fit.' Katie said, punctuating each word. 'Why have you never introduced me to him?' She said, slight annoyance tinting her words.

'You have a boyfriend' I reminded her, looking down at the business card before grabbing my purse and slipping it into a spare slot in the credit card section.

'Yeah, but that can be changed' She said, looking wistfully in the direction of the double doors Freddie had just gone through.

_Result. _Toodaloo Danny, hello Freddie.

'**NUMBER 11345, TWO MINUTES AND YOU'RE UP'**

Katie spun her head round to face me, her eyes wide.

'That's you.'

**Hope you liked it, the audition is coming up in the next chapter!**


	4. The Audition

**A/N - Massive thanks to everyone who has been reading, alerting and reviewing! **

**Time for Emily to audition for the judges, wish her luck.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, the characters, the song/s or anything else. **

**-Naomi-**

I was cheering up somewhat from the afternoon break, although still felt particularly grumpy at the severe lack of talent coming forward from the Bristol auditions. I had tried to stop glancing at the clock as often as I had been so that time didn't feel as though it was passing by too slowly. We'd seen a guy that looked like he had the potential to go far and who seemed to have the whole package – the talent, the looks and the likeability. He had sailed through with four yeses and had been the first audition of the day that had made me smile for all the right reasons.

We'd seen a few acts since then, and they were slowly but surely worsening my mood one by one. I was doodling on the blank piece of paper in front of me when I heard the door open, but I didn't bother looking up, instead focusing on the flower that I was drawing.

'Fuck me' I heard Cook mumble under his breath beside me, prompting me to turn and look at him. He was looking forward, his mouth hanging open a little. I felt my forehead crease in confusion as I lifted my head up from my doodles to look at who it was that had walked in. I dropped my pen at the sight in front of me and watched my pens descent as it noisily fell underneath the table. _Shit. _I pushed my chair back and knelt under the table to grab it, taking the few seconds I had hidden from everyone to inhale and exhale before gracefully standing up and settling myself back in my seat. The gorgeous redhead standing in the middle of the room had watched the whole thing unfold and was looking at us expectantly, waiting for someone to speak. She seemed stuck between confused and amused, her forehead creased but her eyebrow raised, her eyes sparkling. I glanced over at JJ; it was his turn to ask all the introductory questions according to our system whereby we each took it in turns. He was sitting staring at Emily with a similar look on his face to Cook. I shifted my glance over to Effy and found her looking at Emily with an intense stare, probably sizing her up, trying to figure her out, yet making no moves to talk to her. I turned around and looked at Anthea, who was standing to the left of the room with her arms crossed looking at us expectantly, waiting for someone to say something. I rolled my eyes.

'Name?' I asked matter-of-factly, not even looking up from my piece of paper. The cameramen and Emily herself probably thought I had something important written down, oblivious to the fact that I was just staring at my intricate doodle of a lily.

'Emily Fitch'

Inadvertently I flicked my gaze up to look at her again, surprised at the huskiness of her voice.

'Okay, off you go' I said hurriedly, not asking any of the questions I should have, feeling inexplicably nervous under the gaze of her brown eyes. She smiled at me, and nodded her head, wandering over towards Thomas and handing him a CD, blissfully unaware that everyone in the room was checking her out in her skinny jeans. She looked stylish and sexy dressed in all black with her red hair injecting colour into the outfit. Effy turned to me and waggled her eyebrows in a distinctly Cook-like gesture while Emily was turned away and I cocked one of mine back in response. We shared a smile and both turned back to the front as Emily took her place in the middle of the room, looking slightly nervous for the first time at being stood in front of us.

The sound of a piano filled the room for a while before Emily took her cue and started singing.

_When the rain is blowin' in your face  
and the whole world is on your case  
I could offer you a warm embrace  
to make you feel my love._

I felt my breath hitch a bit at the huskiness of her voice and at the emotion she was pouring into the song. Her eyes were shut and I couldn't take my eyes off her lips as she sang; _  
_

_When the evening shadows and the stars appear  
and there is no one there to dry your tears  
I could hold you for a million years  
to make you feel my love._

I finally realised I was staring and turned towards Effy who was staring at her too, her head cocked to the side and a slight smirk on her face. I could tell she was excited by the redheads audition. I chanced a glance over at Anthea, who was beaming at Emily, making it clear that we were all in agreement that this girl was something special. While I had been assessing the room, Emily had drawn closer to the finish of her song. The room was silent as she launched into the last two verses, all eyes and ears fully concentrating on her;

_Though storms are raging on the rollin' sea  
and on the highway of regrets  
though winds of change are throwing wild and free  
you ain't seen nothin' like me yet.  
_

_I could make you happy, make your dreams come true  
Nothing that I wouldn't do  
Go to the ends of the Earth for you  
to make you feel my love._

As she finished the song she opened her eyes, looking as if she was just joining us back in the room. I flicked my glance back down to my sheets of paper as the music stopped before looking over at JJ pointedly; fixing him with a steely glare that I hoped would pass over the message that I wasn't saving his arse twice in one audition. Obviously the message was received because he let out a small cough and looked over at Emily who smiled at him kindly.

'Err, hi Emily' he gushed. I rolled my eyes. 'That was really good, you know, possibly, maybe, yeah, definitely, the best we've heard today, very good, and emotional. Passionate and-' Effy dug him in the side to shut him up, knowing that he wouldn't think to do so of his own accord. He nodded once and grabbed his glass of mango juice, drinking it down in one. Emily smiled gratefully at him and looked at Effy.

'That was really good Emily' Effy commented 'I agree with JJ, the best of today. You have a really unique voice actually, I like the fact it's quite….' Effy paused, looking momentarily out of the window, obviously searching her vocabulary. 'Gravelly' she said with a un-Effy-esque flourish and I turned to her with a slight smile on my face. This girl had impressed her.

'That was amazin' Emilio' Cook thundered, grinning at her enthusiastically. She cocked an eyebrow in response to the nickname, but her face lit up in a smile. 'Nice job' he winked at her. She let out a throaty giggle, a lovely sound escaping her lips. She nodded her head in response and then cast her gaze over to me, catching my eyes with hers and I found myself momentarily lost for words. I caught myself quickly and brought my hand up to scratch my temple absentmindedly.

'That was a good cover of the song' I commented, her eyes still locked onto mine giving me that unfamiliar feeling of nervousness, as though I had butterflies. The feeling of butterflies quadrupled as she smiled at me, and I looked back down at my doodles without returning it. 'One of the better versions of that song we've had to listen to today actually' I critiqued, looking up and immediately feeling guilty for making a dig at her song choice after clocking her face drop slightly, 'and Effy was right, your voice is unique. Overall, a good first audition' I recovered, again averting my eyes, this time choosing to scrutinise the patterned wallpaper on the wall behind Emily.

'We'd better vote then guys' Cook commented from his seat on my left.

'One hundred percent yes' JJ enthused.

'Yes' Effy smirked.

'Err, yeah' I answered coolly.

'And with my big fat hell yeah, you're leaving with a grand total of four yeses Emilio' Cook said proudly, still grinning at Emily. 'We'll be seeing you at boot camp!'

Emily's eyebrows almost hit the ceiling and she shook her head in what looked like disbelief, biting her lip slightly. _She's hot. _

'Thank you JJ, Effy, Cook' she said, looking at each of them in turn as she said their names, before eventually turning her gaze to me 'Naomi'. I gulped at the sound of my name, the huskiness of her voice making it sound sexier than I think I've ever heard it. Again, my doodles became the most fascinating thing in the world to me.

'No….thank you' I heard Effy say, and thirty seconds later the exit door opened and clicked shut. A singular loud clap filled the room, forcing my gaze to find where the noise had come from. My eyes landed on Anthea who was walking towards us, her arms now outstretched, her face split in two with a massive beam.

'We've found something special here guys' she enthused.

'Yeah, she just made Bristol a worthwhile trip' Effy commented, looking at me pointedly, obviously referencing my earlier disdain.

I rewarded her with an eye roll, but didn't really care about the dig, blocking out the others excited jabbering and instead concentrating on the fact that it looked like I was going to be working with Emily Fitch for at least the next few months of UK Idol, and I was couldn't help but wonder why it was that I felt so unbelievably nervous at the prospect.

**Hope you liked it...leave a review and let me know, if you have the time! :)**


	5. Fitch Twin Reactions

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the audition, appreciate it! And in response to those who are wondering why no-one is reviewing - I haven't a clue!**

**This is just a quick chapter with some Fitch reactions to the audition, let me know what you think...maybe this chapter could bring me slightly closer to the big one-five review milestone haha. **

**I don't own Skins. **

**-Emily-**

I left the audition room with my heart thumping wildly in my chest. I held out my hands in front of me and saw that they were trembling uncontrollably. I leant against the door that I had just shut behind me, closing my eyes and inhaling slowly in an attempt to try and regulate my breathing. I heard noises coming up the corridor and reluctantly opened my eyes to see Panda galloping excitedly towards me, her long suffering – and probably thoroughly knackered – cameraman jogging along behind her.

'So, Emily Fitch, did you make it to boot camp?' she puffed out breathlessly once her cameraman had caught up and trained his camera on me.

'Yeah' I smiled, unsure of what to say next, my mind still flashing back through the audition.

'Whizzer!' Panda squealed, her signature catchphrase cutting through my thoughts and bringing me fully into the present. 'And do you think you managed it?' She asked, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

I felt my face cloud with confusion at her words.

'You know, did you manage to impress the _mighty Naomi Campbell_' she said, putting on a deep God-like voice for the last three words, chortling as she continued to look at me waiting for some kind of response. At the mention of her name I smirked slightly, reminding me that I had caught her checking me out, even though I don't think she'd noticed being caught, memories of her intense blue eyes filling my mind momentarily. I looked at Pandora, acutely aware of the red light of the camera in my peripheral vision.

'Yeah, I think she was impressed' I said, keeping my face neutral before adding, 'She did give me a yes after all…'

Panda giggled again and nodded her head once definitively. 'Seems like you did manage it then…that makes you one of just two yeses she has handed out today' she replied before flicking her gaze over to where her cameraman was twirling his finger dramatically in the air as a sign to wrap it up. 'Well, congratulations Emsy and I'll be seeing you at Boot Camp!' She beamed before bouncing away.

I pushed myself off the door I'd been leaning on and started to wander down the carpeted corridor, slipping my iPhone out of my pocket as I went when I heard a shout behind me. I stopped and spun around in one smooth movement to see a guy dressed in all black running towards me, stopping abruptly in front of me before pushing a white envelope into my hands and burbling at me,

'In there are the details of what happens now you've made it through to Boot Camp. It's held in London, and it's a two, possibly three, day thing, depending on whether you progress through the stages, but don't worry about that now. All the dates are in there. If you make it through Boot Camp you'll find out then what happens next, but until then all you need to know is in that envelope. There's an e-mail address in there if you have any questions, okay.'

He didn't wait for an answer, instead turned on his heel and jogged back down the corridor silently in his trainers, disappearing through a door and leaving me standing with an envelope in my hand and what must have been a gormless expression on my face.

I turned back around and shook my head trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last ten minutes of my life. I carried on walking, shoving the envelope into my back pocket as I went before directing my attention back down to my phone, realising then that I had a text message from Katie waiting.

_Hey, where u? I went 2 find u bt they sed u dnt leave by the door u go in thru so I am w8ing the front g8 nw. Did u gt thru? Freddy did, I saw him on his way out! Meet me ASAP! xx_

I rolled my eyes at the message, thinking back to the number of times I have told her that it would be easier to read her texts if she sent them in hieroglyphics. I tapped out a quick reply telling her I'd see her in a second and made my way out of the building with the help of hand written signs with roughly drawn arrows scrawled on them, obviously scribbled out today when some bright spark realised this place was a total maze. I pushed my way through the crowd outside which was still heaving as it had been when I had first arrived and scanned my eyes around once I got to the front gates, finally spotting Katie leaning against a wall across the road.

'HEY' I shouted, waving at her to catch her attention, only stopping when she finally noticed me.

'Did you get through?' She yelled from across the road, obviously unprepared to wait the extra few minutes it would take for me to reach her. I stopped on the kerb opposite her and spread my arms wide with my palms facing up, smiling widely at her, my eyebrow raised.

'What do you think?' I shouted back across the road to her cheekily, quickly checking both ways before crossing to meet her, exclaiming in surprise when she pulled me into a bone crusher of a hug, taking a second to compose myself before wrapping my arms around her in return. When she let go her eyes were watery and I cocked my eyebrow again.

'Knew you would' she said, punching me lightly on the arm, possibly to form a distraction from her tearing up. She coughed gruffly and I grinned at her, linking my arm with hers and pulling her in the direction of the car while I filled her in with the details of the audition. She listened intently to my recollection of my time in front of the judges, and would occasionally cut in with a trivial question about what Effy Stonem was wearing, or whether James Cook was as fit in person as he looked on TV.

'So, sounds like Naomi Campbell gave you a bit of an easy ride then. I've seen her chew people up and spit them out during auditions before' Katie commented as she pulled into a parking space outside my building, switching off the ignition and grabbing her handbag from the back seat before stepping out of the car. I followed suit, stepping onto the kerb and waiting for her to walk around before we fell into step with each other.

'Yeah, she didn't say too much really' I commented casually, pulling open the front door of the apartment block and waiting for Katie to go in before following her. 'She looked good though Kay. **She **looked better in person than on TV' I said, spinning round and walking backwards in front of Katie, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively, chuckling at her dramatic eye roll before turning round again and carrying on towards the lift.

'Urgh, typical Emily Fitch, always fucking thinking about –' She stopped talking abruptly and I felt her tug at the back of my jeans. 'What's this?' she asked curiously, holding the white envelope I'd been given earlier up in front of her face.

'Oh yeah, it's the details of Boot Camp. Totally forgot about that. I'll need to check the dates actually, see if I need to book time off work' I pondered, plucking the envelope out of Katie's hand and ripping it open while she pushed the button to call the lift.

_Dear _Emily Fitch_,_

_Congratulations on successfully passing the first round of UK Idol. Following your successful first audition you have been invited to attend the second round of the contest, known as Boot Camp, which takes place in London on the 3__rd__, 4__th__ and 5__th__ of February. Although you may not be required for all of the three days we would suggest making arrangements to be available for the entire duration of the Boot Camp stage of the competition._

_You must make your own travel and accommodation arrangements for your stay and those who make it through the Boot Camp stages of the competition will be fully reimbursed. _

_During Boot Camp you will be provided with the songs you are to sing and you will be required to participate in duets with other contestants, again with songs provided to you by our UK Idol judges. You will not be permitted to sing any other song than that provided to you by our judges and production team._

_It is vital that you attend the Boot Camp stage of the competition in order to go forward in the competition and have the opportunity to win the prize of a CampbellOne record deal worth 1 million pounds. _

_Please be at the UK Idol Studios (map provided) at 10am on Thursday the 3__rd__ of February with this letter and a form of identification. _

_We look forward to seeing you and wish you the best of luck in the competition. _

_The UK Idol Team – _

I heard the lift doors slide open and we stepped in, Katie leaning forward and pressing the button for the sixteenth floor while I sifted through the envelope to find the promised map with the address and postcode of the UK Idol studios written on the back. I returned both pieces of paper to the envelope and turned to Katie, holding it out to her knowing she'd want a look. She took the envelope off me and pulled out the letter whilst I slid my iPhone out of my pocket and checked my work schedules, mentally contemplating booking time off and packing for London in one muddled train of thought. With this I was reminded that I had work at six and I checked the time.

'Bollocks' I sighed.

'What?' She questioned absentmindedly, not even looking up from reading the letter.

'I've got to be at work at six. Urgh, I'm knackered.' I grumbled.

'It's only 'til nine! It's not like you do anything apart from boss people around anyway' Katie said, lifting her leg neatly as I aimed a kick at it, causing me to miss.

'There's more to it than that, we aren't known as the best hotel and restaurant in Bristol for nothing you know' I said, glaring at her.

'Yeah I know, that's how you get away with charging twenty quid for a fucking salad' She commented again, smiling at me sweetly. I ignored her attempts to get a rise out of me as we glided to a stop on the sixteenth floor. I plucked the envelope out of her hands, 'accidentally' knocking her bag out of her hands as I did so, sending its contents flying all over the floor of the lift, prompting a series of expletives to escape from Katie's lips. I stepped out into the hallway and turned back round to her, a smirk plastered on my face.

Katie stared at me incredulously, then down at the ground, taking in the makeup, gum, coins and keys that were now strewn on the floor beneath her.

'Bye Katiekins!' I sang cheerily as the lift doors shut on a very pissed off looking Katie Fitch.


	6. Dinner

**A/N - Been a few days, I was going to post yesterday but had a major train nightmare getting back to uni coupled with a filthy hangover...so i'm updating today. It's slightly short...i'll do better next time!**

**-Naomi- **

I slumped down onto the king size bed that was positioned in the middle of the neutrally decorated room and sighed loudly as I sank into it. Thank goodness today was over. The rest of the day had trickled by with only a few more hopefuls making it to the next stage of the UK Idol process. I was grateful that we only had the London auditions to go before the Boot Camp stages began in a week. I enjoyed the London auditions – they always seemed to produce loads of talent coupled with an equal amount of awful singers and weird auditions, which Anthea loved, because the terrible ones make fantastic television.

I groaned theatrically at the sound of my Blackberry and leant over to grab it from where I'd tossed it onto the bedside cabinet upon entering the swanky hotel room. I had a new message from Effy;

_Dinner at 8 x_

I chuckled at the to-the-point text and fired one back to let her know I had received it before glancing at the clock and heading towards the shower, undressing as I went.

* * *

I heard Cook before I saw him and grimaced slightly, turning the corner into the restaurant and surveying the room before clocking him, Effy and JJ sitting at a table right in the middle of the restaurant, attracting a lot of attention. Some people were staring at them, obviously having recognised them, whilst others were glancing over at them with annoyance at how loud the table was being. As if on cue Cook yelled at me across the room. I rolled my eyes and manoeuvred my way to the table under the watchful eyes of every other diner, sitting down between Effy and JJ, dumping my clutch next to my place setting.

'Lookin' good Naomikins' Cook said, scrolling his eyes down my upper body appreciatively until Effy lightly slapped his arm, her eyes sparkling. Cook chuckled at this and pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to her temple before diverting his attention to the menu that was opened in front of him, whistling tunelessly.

'Hey Eff' I said casually, picking up my own stylish black leather clad menu and opening it, scanning over the fancy options and suddenly realising I was ravenous.

'Nice of you to join us' she commented dryly in lieu of a greeting.

'Sorry, couldn't decide what to wear that was suitable for here and a club' I apologised, motioning lazily to my outfit of grey skinny jeans, killer high heeled shoes and a low cut vest, which I'd covered with a designer white blazer, a long necklace dangling around my neck and bangles clinking on my wrist.

'It's nice in here' she stated calmly, ignoring my apology, and I lifted my head to scan the table, noticing the crisp white tablecloth, sparkling wine glasses and expensive napkins adorning it, before glancing around the room, which was stylishly decorated, modern and scrupulously clean. I could see that the kitchen was on view for the patrons of the restaurant to watch their food being cooked, a nice touch I thought as I watched the staff working at their individual stations, thoroughly caught up in their work. I was about to turn back to the table to agree with Effy when I saw a redhead flash across the kitchen, causing me to furrow my brow and squint a bit in the direction of the kitchen.

'Isn't that…' I started, turning back around to Effy who was looking at me intently, an eyebrow raised. Always six steps ahead of everyone else.

'Yep' she answered casually, picking up her wine glass and sipping from it demurely whilst maintaining eye contact with me. I felt slightly annoyed at the fact she knew the redhead had unnerved me during her audition and for the fact she'd made the comment about the restaurant knowing it'd mean I would inevitably look around, and therefore spot the redhead, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

'What?' I said irritably, her stare making me feel exposed.

'What?' she repeated back to me in a faux dumb tone, plastering an innocent look on her face before her eyes crinkled and her mouth curled slowly into a Stonem smile, 'I didn't know she worked here' she said through incredulous laughter, genuinely amused, before looking back down at her menu.

I was considering this when I heard the husky voice that had plagued my thoughts all day drift from across the room, and I turned to look at where it had come from as it was considerably too loud to have come from the kitchen, which was away across the other side of room. I spotted her chatting to a table of four aging businessmen in creased suits, and figured she was doing the obligatory chefs rounds of the restaurant. I pulled a face at the way in which the guys were leering at her, obviously enjoying their sitting down viewpoint of the standing redhead. She didn't seem to notice, or was doing a stellar job of hiding the fact she had, and stood chatting to them animatedly about the locally sourced ingredients the kitchen was proud of using, a conversation I'm sure the four guys had no interest in whatsoever. I took the opportunity to take in the redheads appearance, unable to stop myself thinking she looked good with her hair up, her fringe pinned into a pompadour, wearing a black chefs jacket with two columns of buttons running down the front, the top square of four buttons undone making her look sexily dishevelled. I turned back to the table upon hearing a waiter approach and introduce himself as Peter. Cook reeled off his order first, mispronouncing most of the words from the menu. JJ ordered next, and I read my menu again hurriedly in order to decide what I wanted, glad that JJ was questioning every ingredient of every element of the dish he was ordering, effectively buying me more time. Effy ordered quickly, and the waiter rounded on me,

'And for you, Miss Campbell'

'I'll have the lobster and salmon ravioli' I said, smiling at the waiter as Cook started asking him questions about the Champagnes on offer. I closed my menu and passed it to Peter, before picking up my wine glass and sipping from it.

'Good choice' a husky voice commented from behind me, surprising me and causing me to choke on the mouthful of wine I had just taken, prompting Effy to lean over and pat me lightly on the back, doing a good job of hiding her amusement. I regained my composure and spun around in my seat, catching her smiling brown eyes with my blue ones,

'You think?' I questioned, raising my eyebrow at her.

'Well, yeah, but I'm slightly biased' She chuckled, walking around the table until she was standing between my seat and JJ's, her hands resting lightly on the backs of our chairs 'It's my recipe' she continued, smiling over at Effy in a form of greeting, Effy returning it immediately.

'I see. So if I don't like it, it's your doing?' I asked, looking at her with challenge in my eyes.

'Yeah, absolutely' she retorted confidently, locking her eyes with mine before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially, 'But I'm sure it will be one of the better versions of that dish you'll have had to taste today' she said, a throwback to my comment during her audition, before straightening up and winking at me, grinning cheekily as she grabbed the order form off Peter who was being held up by inane questions by Cook, who was now asking about the tequila, and waving a goodbye over her shoulder as she sauntered back towards the kitchen, leaving me staring after her, speechless.

'I like her' Effy chuckled next to me as she tried to get Cook to stop bothering the waiter and just order the tequila shots already.

'Me too' I muttered to myself, turning back round to the table and draining my wine glass.


	7. Tonic

**I don't own Skins...**

**-Emily-**

By nine thirty I had showered and changed, had shoved my uniform into the staffs laundry hamper and was busy struggling everything else into my locker when my phone started buzzing from the bench I'd left it lying on in the changing room. I quickly slammed the door shut and lunged over to grab it before it rang off, tapping the 'accept' button and bringing the handset to my ear without checking the caller ID.

'Hello'

I felt my forehead crease in reaction to the loud noise that was booming through the earpiece, the sound reminiscent of being in the middle of a crowd, prompting me to move the phone from my ear to see who the caller was, noting Katie's name flashing back at me.

'Katie?' I said, my voice confused 'Helllloooo' I tried again.

'Hey Ems, I'm going to be late, Danny won his game today so I'm going to celebrate with him and the team, but I'll come over and meet you at the club afterwards yeah?' Katie yelled, competing with the background noise pretty well.

'Alright Katie' I said, annoyed that Danny's team had decided to win for the first time this entire season today, of all days. 'Text me later on'

'Yeah' she shouted before hanging up, leaving me looking at my phone and feeling a bit rejected considering I was going out tonight to celebrate too.

'Bloody Danny' I mumbled as I wandered over to the sinks, checking my hair and makeup quickly before turning around and grabbing my bag off the side and dropping my phone into it as I made my way out of the changing rooms. My phone vibrated again, letting me know I had a new text message, and I rolled my eyes. It had been going off all evening after Katie decided to post the fact I'd got through my first audition on Facebook for the world to see, so I decided to ignore it and carried on through the hotel lobby on my way to the bar.

'Hey Steve' I greeted the bartender.

'Hey Em' He smiled widely 'Usual?'

'What else?' I retorted, smiling as I perched myself onto a bar stool, watching him turn around and grab a Corona out of the fridge behind him before tipping it into a Corona branded pilsner glass, grabbing a slice of lime and pushing onto the rim before sliding it over to me.

'Thanks' I said, taking a sip and surveying the glass before settling it back down onto the bar. 'I'd drink it out of the bottle if this place wasn't so…' I paused, searching for the right word.

'Full of snobs?' He finished, his cheeky grin firmly in place.

I laughed loudly and nodded, taking another sip of my beer. We sat and chatted for another few minutes before raucous laughter suddenly filled the room, interrupting us and causing us to both look round to find where the sudden noise had come from. My eyebrows shot up at the sight before us. Naomi Campbell, Effy Stonem, James Cook and JJ Jones were the noisy crowd and they were stumbling towards the bar unaware of our, and the other customers, eyes on them as they laughed together.

'I cannot believe they kicked us out of the dining room' JJ commented, shaking his head and looking a bit sheepish.

'I can' Naomi fired back, laughing and looking at Cook and Effy before continuing 'I don't think this is the sort of establishment that takes kindly to body shots in the dining room' she said pointedly.

I felt my mouth fall open, my mind engulfed with mental images of what I'd potentially missed, feeling gutted that I'd have to hear it from every other member of staff on Monday.

'Y'think' Cook slurred, before looking up and spotting us staring at them and breaking into a wide toothy grin 'Emilio!' He exclaimed, opening his arms wide and starting to walk towards us as the others wandered towards a booth. He pulled me into a bear hug when he reached me, earning me a bemused stare from Steve. I shot him a look that said I'd explain it to him later. 'That food man, that was tip top, absolutely tip top' He said, letting go of me and shifting his gaze over to Steve. 'Alright mate, can we 'ave…' He paused, surveying the impressive selection of bottles that were arranged neatly on a display behind Steve 'five shots of yer strongest stuff, whatever that is' He chuckled, turning to me 'You're gunna join us right?' He asked, shooting me another massive grin.

I looked over at Steve and narrowed my eyes sceptically when I saw the bottles he was reaching for and shook my head 'Um, you know what, I think I'll sit out this round'

'Aw, Emilio' Cook pouted.

I laughed and looked over at the booth where the other three were sitting, chewing my lip in thought. _Fuck it._ 'Alright then' I said, shrugging and drinking my beer down quickly.

Cook raised his eyebrows and let out a hoot of laughter. 'Nice one' Cook boomed, turning back to the bar as Steve placed a tray with five shots on it down. 'Cheers mate' he said, picking up the tray.

'Don't you want to know what they are?' Steve questioned.

'No mate, I think we'll be best not knowing' Cook laughed, grabbing my arm and pulling me off my bar stool in the direction of the booth, letting go as we reached the table.

'May I present our guest for the evenin', Miss Emilio' He chuckled, motioning for me to sit as he set the tray on the table as everyone around the table greeted me politely. I slid into the booth next to Naomi, who grabbed two shots off the tray and set one in front of herself and the other in front of me without looking over.

'Thanks, I think' I said, looking down into the shot glass dubiously, hearing her laugh quietly. I looked up and caught her eyes with mine, momentarily taken aback by the blue pools, and smiled before returning my gaze to the others seated at the table, spotting another pair of eyes looking at me. Effy didn't avert hers at being caught, instead carried on looking at me intently before reaching down to her shot and drinking it down quickly, prompting everyone else to do the same. I felt my face screw up in disgust as the liquid seared my throat, flicking my eyes open as Cook let out a howl opposite me.

'Woah that was strong' JJ muttered, shifting in his seat and waving one of his hands in front of his face, following it with his eyes 'No more for me, I'll never make it to the club'

'Man up gay jay, there's plenty more where that came from!' Cook said, turning towards the bar signalling to get Steve's attention and motioning for him to come over to the table before beginning to reel off a range of drinks, ordering them in fives as Steve scribbled them down.

'Sooo,' I began, looking at Naomi, 'What'd you think?'

She looked at me confused.

'Of the ravioli' I smiled, raising my eyebrow.

I saw the realisation dawn on her features, memories of our earlier conversation obviously flooding back. She coughed gently 'It was good.' She said, nodding her head slowly and placing her empty shot glass back onto the tray.

I giggled, copying her actions and shoving my empty glass onto the tray too. 'Why, thanks. A gushing review, if ever I've heard one' I said, jokingly.

She laughed and looked at me incredulously. 'Gushing reviews aren't exactly what I'm known for, are they?'

I cocked my head to the side, contemplating this. 'Good point' I commented, prompting another laugh and I smiled, enjoying the banter as I moved my hands from where I was resting them on the table to make room for the new tray that Steve had brought over which was laden with 5 bottles of beer, 5 Jägerbombs, 5 mixer glasses with who-knows-what in them and numerous multi-coloured shots.

I watched as Cook started handing them out, gulping as they started piling up in front of me, looking up as Cook dumped the empty tray on the floor and picked up his bottle of beer and held it in the air, prompting us all to do the same. He looked round at each of us, grinning wildly.

'Let's. Go. Fuckin'. MENTAAAAL!'

* * *

I woke up feeling groggy; keeping my eyes squeezed shut as I reached over to my bedside table to grab my phone to check the time, furrowing my brow as my hand flailed through thin air. I gingerly opened one eye and sat up abruptly when I realised I didn't have a clue where I was, regretting it immediately when my head screamed at me and my stomach lurched. I took my head in my hands and massaged my temples and swallowed, grimacing at the dryness of my throat. When I felt it was safe to do so I opened my eyes again, taking in my surroundings in a desperate bid to figure out where I was and how I got there, failing miserably even though the room felt vaguely familiar. I shut my eyes again, trying to remember the previous night.

* * *

'_Urgh' I grimaced as I drank the last of my shots, rolling my eyes as I heard Cook jump up and head to the bar, too impatient to wait for Steve to come over. I contempla__ted another onslaught of drinks when I suddenly realised I had somewhere to be._

'_Shit' I mumbled, 'I've got to go' I said, going to stand up but feeling a hand on my arm stopping me and causing me to spin around in my seat._

'_Why? Where are you going?' Naomi asked, looking at me fixedly._

'_To meet my friend Freddie, we're celebrating getting through round one' I said, grinning 'I'm heading over to Tonic; it's where he works…' I paused as Effy snapped her head up and looked at me, an amused smile gracing her features._

'_Tonic?' She questioned._

'_Yeah, some bar over the other side of town, supposed to be pretty good.' I commented, too aware of the sets of blue eyes boring into me. _

'_We're goin' t'Tonic' JJ intercepted, looking at me with glassy eyes and a squiffy smile._

'_I don't think you'll be going' Effy commented, shoving him lightly on the shoulder and laughing when he slid down the seat of the booth. 'No, he won't be going' She said, this time to us. 'You should ride with us Emily, now that JJ is…unable to join' _

'_I kinda need to get going soon, got to be there at 10'_

_Naomi glanced down at her Blackberry and laughed. 'It's quarter past' _

'_Shit. Really?' I said, grabbing my mobile out of my bag and spotting a missed call from Freddie. I quickly typed out a text telling him I'd be there soon and went to stand up again, this time managing it, but immediately realising I wasn't as stable on my feet as I'd have liked. _

'_Emilio, where do you think you're going' I heard Cook say, coming over to the table and putting down a tray filled with shooters. 'I've just settled the tab, this is the last lot before we leave, promise' He said, winking at me. 'You're goin' to come with us right?' He asked, and I nodded, figuring it'd be quicker going with them rather than messing around booking a taxi across town on Saturday night. _

_We drank the shots in record time, woke a sleeping JJ and guided him up to bed before heading out the front door to a waiting car, an impressive looking black Bentley, and sliding in, Cook jumping in the passenger seat and chatting with the driver animatedly. _

'_So, is Freddie your boyfriend? Naomi asked out of the blue, turning to look at me._

_I felt my eyebrows rise on my forehead and laughed lightly, 'No, he isn't really my type' I commented, looking back at her._

'_Tall dark and handsome isn't your type?' She asked, narrowing her eyes curiously._

_I laughed and went to answer her just as we pulled up outside the club but I was momentarily blinded as flashes filled the car. _

'_Photographers' Naomi explained, obviously noting my pained expression, before turning to Effy, 'let's make this quick'_

'_Sure thing' Effy said, 'I'll go through with Cook first and then you two follow, alright?' We didn't have time to respond as Cook ripped the car door open and offered Effy his hand, helping her out and leading her towards the mass of photographers who were snapping manically. _

'_Christ, I hate them' Naomi muttered, quickly stepping out the car whilst their attention was diverted and offering me her hand as Cook had for Effy. I took it gratefully and climbed out after her, spotting Freddie standing outside the entrance of the club chatting to the bouncers just as a huddle of blokes with high performance cameras pounced on us. I went to remove my hand from hers only for her to tighten her grip, causing me to look up at her in confusion, watching as she leaned in to whisper into my ear._

'_Stay alive, and I'll come find you' She said cryptically, letting go of my hand and striding towards the entrance of the club, disappearing into the cloud of flashes that erupted as the paparazzi followed her, me standing watching them go before wandering over to meet Freddie._

_

* * *

_

'Morning' A female voice said, pulling me from my thoughts. _Oh fuck_. I slowly opened my eyes feeling apprehensive. Stood at the foot of the bed with a huge mug of coffee in her hands and a newspaper under her arm was the nameless brunette I'd bumped into in the lift yesterday morning. She was still nameless, my hazy hung-over brain unable to pluck a name for her out of my sketchy memories.

'I knew I recognised this room' I said stupidly, looking around, before realising that probably wasn't an appropriate greeting 'Hey, by the way'

She laughed and handed me the coffee mug, which I took appreciatively and cupped in my hands, holding it close to my face and letting the steam hit me as she walked over to an armchair in the corner, sitting in it and dumping the paper in her lap without opening it.

'How're you feeling?'

'Absolutely awful. Can't really remember much of last night…' I trailed off, looking into the coffee mug pathetically.

'I'm not surprised, you were pretty wasted' she joked, unfolding the paper and reading the front page as I stared at her, wondering whether she was going to enlighten me as to why I was in her bed. She stayed silent, carrying on reading the front page scandal.

'Sooo' I said, breaking the silence 'Did we…'

'Nope' she said, still not looking up.

'So, why am I…?'

'Well' she began, looking up from the tabloid, 'we bumped into each other in Tonic and got talking…you were telling me about the fact you'd forgotten my name actually' upon hearing this I cringed, prompting a laugh from the brunette, 'S'ok, anyway, you dragged me into the VIP bit where your twin was sitting with your friend…Freddie?' I nodded, noting that I needed to ask Katie about this as soon as I found my phone 'so we were sitting in there, um, yeah.' She blushed a bit, and I figured we were doing more than just sitting there, but let her go on 'And three of those UK Idol judges came in from the smoking terrace and the blonde one, y'know, um…'

'Naomi Campbell'

'Yeah, Naomi Campbell, well she didn't look too happy, and walked past us with a face like thunder' She paused, gauging my reaction to this. I just shrugged. 'Well, anyway, you jumped up and followed her around the corner, and then flew back round about ten minutes later looking equally pissed off, grabbed my arm and pulled me out the club. We ended up back here, but you passed out so I left you to it and crashed on the couch' She picked the paper back up before continuing. 'And the rest, as they say, is history'

I leant back against the headboard, confused, concerned and a bit embarrassed.

'Did I mention anything about what happened with her?' I probed.

'Nope, you were too busy trying to take my clothes off' she sniggered, looking over the top of her paper. I cringed for the second time and mumbled an apology. 'It's okay Emily, I'm kind of glad you passed out otherwise this morning would have been a more awkward situation' she said, disappearing back behind her paper.

I gathered my stuff together not long after I finished my coffee, apologising and thanking her in her doorway before turning and heading towards the lift, grateful that I ended up only four floors away from my flat rather than across town somewhere. I noticed my iPhone battery had died at some point, and rolled my eyes at the thought of the messages I'd get off Katie. Last night's events were making my brain spin, but I still had no clue why I'd wanted to leave the club so quickly. I reached my front door and unlocked it before wandering in, stopping suddenly at the sight before me.

'WHAT. THE. FUCK.'

**Next update will be quicker! This was my first week back at uni after exams and I have spent the whole time either drunk or hungover. I'll have more time to write this now, considering i'm never drinking again :P **


	8. The Morning After

**Disclaimer - I don't own Skins.**

**-Naomi- **

'_WHAT. THE. FUCK.' _

Everyone in the room turned to look at a shell shocked Emily, who was taking in the scene in front of her with her mouth hanging open. Myself, Effy and Katie were sat at her dining table drinking coffee and Cook and Freddie were sprawled on the sofa, their legs up on the coffee table, watching football highlights on the TV. No-one said anything, just looked at her silently with mildly panicked faces, so Emily slammed the door behind her, making everyone jump.

'What the fuck is going on here?' she exclaimed again, looking at Katie with a furious expression, her voice cracking on the last word, making it sound like she was going to lose her voice.

'Erm, well' Katie started, looking round at everyone else in the room causing us all to look away and avoid her eyes. 'Cheers guys' she added sarcastically before standing and walking gingerly towards Emily. 'They, well we all, kinda got thrown out of the hotel.' She said hurriedly, her face guilty.

Emily's eyebrows hit the ceiling. 'How the fuck did you manage that?'

'We took the party back there Emilio, it was wild' Cook piped in, his face split into a massive grin which slowly dissipated when he caught the look on Emily's face. I rolled my eyes discretely at his idiocy.

'Shit got broken, guests got annoyed, the bar got ransacked' Freddie said bluntly, shrugging and looking at Emily calmly, which seemed to annoy her. Katie seemed to notice this and jumped in.

'It was proper late, so I thought we could come back here, because obviously they couldn't go back to mum's, and no-where else would take us at that time. Or when we were that drunk' Katie continued, moving towards her one step at a time, looking nervous. 'I did try and call y-'

'My phone died' Emily snapped.

I stayed quiet during the entire exchange, occasionally sharing a glance with Effy at the awkwardness of the situation we'd found ourselves in. The room had fallen back into a silence so I chanced a look up, mentally kicking myself for doing so when I caught her brown eyes with mine. I flicked my glance back down to my coffee immediately.

'Katie, get me water and some kind of headache tablet please' Emily said, the earlier anger having left her voice, replaced with a resigned tone. I carried on looking into my mug when I felt the table jolt a bit, causing me to look up to see her sitting opposite me at her dining table.

'Last night got pretty…messy…' Emily started, looking at her hands as she let the sentence trail off, flicking her eyes back up to us when we didn't respond.

'Definitely' I said quickly, looking over towards Effy who was nodding.

'Where's your stuff?' Emily queried suddenly and randomly, looking around the room quickly before stopping abruptly and taking her head in hands, 'Ouch. Need to stop doing that'

I smiled at how cute she was.

'They've moved it all into JJ's room at the hotel. He's still there.' Effy said, glancing over to Cook and Freddie as they started yelling at the television screen over some footballing injustice or other.

'Ah. Fair enough' she said, taking the glass of water and the tablets Katie brought over and swallowing them.

'What happened to you last night anyway' Katie said, taking a seat at the table and smirking as she took a sip from her own glass of water. I flicked my eyes back down to my coffee mug, finding its contents inexplicably interesting yet again.

'Erm, well, I was…at, erm…' Emily spluttered, prompting all three of us to look at her questioningly. 'Yeah. Well, just at a friend's.' she concluded finally. Effy and Katie shared an amused look across the table and turned back to her while my gaze returned to my mug, although I wanted to know more about what had happened after she'd ditched the club.

'A friend's?' Katie said, chuckling.

'Yeah, a friend's' Emily repeated back to her sharply, shooting her a filthy look before pushing her chair back and standing up. 'Naomi, can I have a quick word?'

I snapped my head up and looked at her, 'Me?' I questioned stupidly.

A flash of amusement passed through her eyes, but was quickly replaced with the serious face she'd had when she asked the initial question.

'Yeah. Through here' she said bluntly, wandering towards a door at the back of the open plan room. I took a deep breath and placed my coffee mug onto the table, standing up without looking at Effy and Katie and following her towards the back of the room, striding through the door that she was holding open and wincing as I heard it click shut behind us. _Fuckfuckfuckfuck._

I spun round to see Emily staring in the direction of her bed behind me, her eyes narrowed, encouraging me to glance over my shoulder to look at the unmade bed, turning back round with a confused look on my face.

'Who slept in here?' Emily questioned, looking at me as though there was a potentially wrong answer, and my heart sunk as I realised I was going to have to deliver this answer to her.

'Um, Katie and Freddie…' I answered truthfully, figuring that I'd rather deal with an annoyed Katie Fitch than an annoyed Emily Fitch.

'Urgh, for fucks sake. This day literally couldn't get any worse.' She thundered loudly, seemingly to herself, before striding past me and over to her walk-in wardrobe and yanking the door open forcefully, disappearing into it before continuing, 'I've asked you in here to find out what exactly it was that we spoke about that made me want to leave the club last night' she said, her tone unreadable.

I squeezed my eyes shut and inwardly swore, although figured this would probably be easier with her hiding in the closet. I opened my eyes again and sighed faintly.

'It was just a' I stopped, thinking of the right word, 'misunderstanding' I added, pausing and just standing in her bedroom listening to her banging around in the wardrobe. I wasn't sure if she had heard.

'Go on' She prompted, letting me know she had, and her tone suggested she was impatient at my reluctance to give up information or details willingly.

'It was stupid, I just felt that you should know that now that you are involved in, and you know, may do well in, this competition, you know' I stopped talking and shook my head at my ridiculous loss of coherent speech before continuing 'well, I just told you that there are cameras around, and photographers, so you should be careful about who and what you decide to do in clubs' I grimaced a bit at my wording which wasn't dissimilar from what I'd said last night, although I had definitely been more bitchy about it in the club.

Emily came back out of the wardrobe with her brow furrowed and her face serious, dressed in Nike sweatpants and a vest top, her red hair hanging loose around her shoulders. She looked at me intently, a look that made me nervous.

'I may not have said it in those words. I may have been a bit more…harsh…' I admitted sheepishly, looking down at the floor, unable to cope with the eye contact she wasn't wavering on.

'Right' she said, coughing quietly when her voice came out more husky than usual, a consequence of her hangover and her overexertion on her voice last night, 'Well, I suppose that's fair. I was really drunk, and to be honest, it was Cook's fault' she commented, looking down and laughing slightly.

I laughed and looked back up, my face turning solemn again when I caught the downtrodden look on hers, the previous laughter not having reached her eyes.

'I am sorry for how i spoke to you; I wouldn't have been as brutal if I hadn't been pretty mashed myself.' I said, staring into her eyes, which still didn't leave mine, and this time I held the eye contact to show her the sincerity of my apology. The sensation of apologising was odd, I wasn't used to it.

'S'ok, not like I remember. I got filled in on most of the night by…' Emily started, her face becoming puzzled momentarily, 'I cannot remember that girls name' she said, shaking her head and holding her hands out whilst laughing incredulously and looking at me. 'Seriously, I'm usually so good with names! Anyway, the girl from the 12th floor filled me in…' she trailed off.

'She's the one you went home with last night?' I questioned, trying to act nonchalant.

'Yeah, I've…met...her before' Emily stated, raising her eyebrow suggestively to let me know she was pretty well acquainted with the girl from the 12th floor. I laughed politely but my eyes remained steely. 'But I just slept there last night it would seem, nothing more' She continued lazily, wandering over to a bedside table and pulling open a drawer, unaware that I felt my heart soar a bit at this seemingly insignificant snippet of information. She rummaged through it for a second before yanking out a phone charger. She turned back around and looked at me. 'Thanks for the…advice anyway. I appreciate it.' She went to walk past me towards the door before spinning round. 'Oh, wait…you said you were going to come find me last night…any reason?' She queried, cocking her head to the side.

'Oh, yeah, I was going to forewarn you about cameras and, erm, just about how to act when they are around, before anything had the chance to happen…ironic huh?' I laughed nervously. She joined in, nodding.

'Okay, well. Now I know' she smiled, leaving the room.

I shook my head and exhaled, grateful at the quick lie that saved my pride from the real, and kind of lame, reason that I kind of wanted to just spend some time with her last night. I gathered myself before following her out and back into the living area, reclaiming my seat at the dining table and looking at Effy, letting her know through my eyes that it hadn't been disastrous without actually having to say the words out loud. Working together so long had definitely had its benefits.

'We should probably go' Effy stated, standing up to show us that it wasn't a suggestion. I followed suit and furrowed my brow when I realised Emily didn't seem to be in the room and considering it was an open plan set up, this seemed odd. I spun round in the direction of her impressive shiny kitchen, spotting her sitting on the counter in the corner of her kitchen, staring intently down at her iPhone which was plugged into a wall socket behind her. I looked at her for a second, taking in her svelte figure before realising I was staring.

'Yeah' I agreed, the sound of my voice pulling her attention away from her phone, her eyes meeting mine immediately. I smiled at her warmly, 'we're going to go'

'Okay' she said, smiling back at me, this time letting it reach her eyes. 'See you guys soon, thanks for last night…in the main' she chuckled, prompting me to laugh along with her, pleased that we could joke about it already.

'S'later Emilio' Cook yelled, smiling widely at her while he stood up and stretched. If he had taken a shine to her initially, he was possibly her biggest fan after the show he got to witness last night in the VIP area of Tonic. The three of us made our way to the front door and said our goodbyes to Katie and Freddie, who were sitting on far ends of the sofa from each other as if we hadn't had to listen to them shagging all of last night, exchanging polite pleasantries as we made for the door. Clicking it shut behind us, we headed for the lift, falling into step with one another easily. As we walked away we heard the sound of Emily start talking, the sound loud enough to carry down the hallway, prompting us all to stop suddenly at the same time and lean back slightly to hear better what was being said.

'...for starters, I cannot believe you let yourself into MY house and then fucked in MY bed! The fucking cheek, you can buy me a whole new set of bed linen. No, I want a whole new BED. Secondly, I cannot believe you got kicked out of the hotel. The hotel where I WORK. How do you think that'll make me look, Katie? What if I get sacked? What if they blame me because you lot thought it would be funny to play knock and run in a five star hotel at four o'clock in the fucking morning…'

We all looked at each other, amusement dancing in our eyes before running towards the lift and pushing the button repeatedly, jumping in when it arrived and letting out the laughter we'd been holding in.

'Shit, she is not happy' Effy stated through her laughter.

'She's a firecracker, that's for sure' Cook mused, his face sporting a filthy smile.

'It's kind of funny that we didn't tell her we were knocking on peoples doors, she just knew that's what we'd have done' I snorted, pressing the button for the Ground Floor. 'Poor Katie'

'Did she have a go at you like that?' Effy smirked at me.

'Did she fuck' I said, pushing Effy lightly. 'She can't actually remember last night, but I told her what I'd been trying to let her know, about cameras and that'

Effy raised her eyebrow and nodded, her eyes sparkling, infuriating me.

'I was telling her for her own good. If she goes further in Idol, then she doesn't want photos of her doing stuff like that in clubs with random girls' I snapped defensively.

'I want photos of her in clubs doing stuff like that in clubs with random girls' Cook chimed in, waggling his eyebrows, chuckling as Effy hit his shoulder quite hard with her fist.

'You guys know what I mean, it's damaging. That shit follows you' I argued, ignoring Cook.

Effy just nodded again 'For her own good' she mused as the lift slid to a stop, her smirk still in place. I rolled my eyes and scowled, letting it go as we all hopped out and made our way towards the front doors to get a cab back to The Bristol and face the music.

An hour later, thousands of pounds poorer and with JJ in tow, we were all on our way back to London.

'What a nightmare' JJ commented bleakly, staring out of the window of the people carrier solemnly. He had taken the brunt of the anger of the manager of the hotel because he was the only one there for him to blame, and he had been really quiet since we'd picked him up, apart from the occasional sigh. I glanced at Effy worriedly, wondering if he'd ever recover from the massive bollocking he'd taken on our behalves.

'Jay, we're sorry' I said, reaching over and patting his shoulder. He didn't turn around, just carried on staring out the window.

'Mate, it ain't the end of the world y'know. They ain't pressin' charges. We paid for the damage…'

'We…?' I cut Cook off, looking at him through narrowed eyes.

'Well, yeah. The damage was paid for…' Cook added, laughing. I shook my head in disbelief at his cheek, considering HE had brought the party back, HE stole from the bar, HE smashed the window…well, he was to blame for most of it. Cook cut through my thoughts 'Maybe we should all lighten up a bit, yeah? That was a big splash about, that's a given, but as of next week we ain't gunna have opportunities to do that. Next week is Boot Camp, after then, the work starts, yeah? So one last legendary night was in order, for sure, so calm down. Everyone had a good night, right?'

JJ looked at Cook and nodded, obviously accepting his logic. I smiled at Effy and then at Cook, who was beaming back at me smugly. I rolled my eyes and turned to look out of my own window. Only the London auditions to go, then it's Boot Camp. Cook was right, that's when the work did start, but I had a feeling this was going to be the best series yet as I leant my head back against my headrest and shut my eyes, red lights dancing behind my lids as I fell asleep.

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and so on :) It's Boot Camp next, and i've already started it...not drinking has made me more productive! **


	9. Boot Camp  Day One

**-Emily-**

The rest of the week sped by in a blur, the day of Boot Camp coming round all too quickly. The Bristol had okayed my time off, luckily they hadn't blamed me for my idiotic sisters behaviour at the hotel, and had even thrown me a party the night before Boot Camp to wish me luck in the competition. The party was held at a Mexican restaurant along the high street and Katie and Freddie came along too. The hotel was buying, so everyone drank too many margaritas, but it was lovely that Freddie and I had gotten to spend time with Katie before having to leave her for three days to attend the UK Idol Boot Camp. They'd been virtually inseparable since the night at Tonic, and Katie had callously dropped Danny from her life, a fact that pleased me no end. Well, eventually, after I'd calmed down somewhat from yelling at her for her numerous misjudged decisions made on that night, from shagging in my bed to trashing my workplace for fun. She'd apologised repeatedly and I'd eventually accepted, figuring that if I hadn't of stormed out of Tonic, I'd probably have been in the thick of the hotel trashing myself anyway.

So, after a lengthy goodbye with an emotional Katie we were speeding towards London in Freddie's Seat Leon, blaring out his iPod through the speakers whilst I scrolled through his playlists selecting the next songs, laughing at the more questionable tracks he had on there while he tried to defend them.

'Hey, it's a classic'

'It's Westlife Freds; I don't think you can count it as a classic' I giggled, leaning back in my seat and resting my feet on the front of the glove compartment as I did so.

'Hey, feet down' he scolded.

'You had sex with my sister in my bed' I countered idly, carrying on scrolling through the iPod in a disinterested way, not even bothering to look over as I said it whilst keeping my feet where they were. He didn't say anything for a while before piping up.

'Are you going to use that against me forever?' he asked.

I laughed raucously. 'No, Freds, only when I want my own way' I said, smiling at him cheekily.

He sighed theatrically and laughed 'You just wait till I have something over you' he threatened, looking at me menacingly before turning back to the road.

'Never gunna happen Fredster. Never gunna happen' I countered, chuckling and turning to gaze out of the window, watching the countryside zip past.

* * *

We made it to or hotel at nine and went our separate ways to our rooms arranging to meet at half past in the lobby. I struggled with the world's worst invention, the key card, eventually busting through the door noisily, dropping everything as I did. I kicked everything out of the path of the door and shut it, climbing over everything and wandering over to the window to open it. It was unseasonably warm and the room was stuffy, although it was a nicely decorated and quite big place. I flicked the TV on for some background noise and grabbed my suitcase, dragging it across the floor to the side of the double bed and unzipping it, kneeling in front of it and just staring into the mish-mash of clothes before starting to pull out random items, chucking those that were possibilities for today onto the bed above me.

By quarter past I had dressed and was surveying my appearance in a mirror when I heard my phone start to ring. I moved over to the bed and started rummaging around between the huge pile of clothes that had found their way there from my suitcase, eventually finding it and groaning out loud at the Caller ID. I let my finger hover over the reject button before sighing, knowing she'd just call back if I didn't answer it.

'Hey mum'

'Hello Emily' her voice came gruffly over the line 'Katie told me today was your audition'

'Yep'

'You're going through with this ridiculous karaoke show then'

I pinched the bridge of my nose and bit my lip. 'Yep'

'I don't understand it Emily. I just don't. You're doing so well at the hotel, you love it there.'

'Yep'

'EMILY. Stop saying that'

'Mum, I'm doing this whether you agree with it or not. I don't see why you can't just accept this one thing' I said, exasperated.

'I think I've accepted enough, don't you?'

'Erm, no, not really mum!' I exclaimed, 'I don't think you've accepted anything I've EVER wanted to do or have done…being gay, going travelling, singing, even when I told you I was going into catering…'

'Yeah, well i never realised it was something you were good at…'

'I thought you may have guessed considering the superior cooking ability that seems to run in our family' I commented, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

'Well, that is a good point.' She replied smugly, and I could hear the smile in her voice. I rolled my eyes.

'Mum, I've got to go. I'm doing this, yeah. Maybe I'll make your day and won't get through' I hung up and threw my phone back onto the bed before taking my head in my hands and inhaling and exhaling deeply before starting to gather all my stuff together to go and meet Freddie.

* * *

We left the hotel at nine thirty on foot, having been given the directions by the hotel for UK Idol Studios, walking companionably and chatting aimlessly about this and that, neither of us really mentioning what we were about to do.

'You nervous?' I asked, looking up at him as we walked side by side.

He laughed lightly, 'Never been more scared in my life'

I smiled, 'Snap.'

'You've got nothing to worry about, one of the judges fancies you, you're in!' he joked.

'James Cook wouldn't have a chance even if I was straight' I retorted noncommittally, glancing into the shop windows we were passing with a mild interest.

'James Cook..?' Freddie questioned, looking at me with his brow furrowed.

I turned and looked at him with confused features just as we turned the next corner, both of us stopping suddenly to stare at the massive crowd gathered outside the studio. I gulped and turned to Freddie again, who looked as though he might faint. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the crowd with determination in my step and on my face.

* * *

We made it into the studio and were ushered into a massive room reminiscent of a theatre, with red 'comfy' fold up chairs all facing a large stage. There was a long desk at the front with four seats and four cups already set up on it, although there was no one sitting there. There were cameras everywhere, they'd been filming as we'd filed into the building, were watching us as we took our seats, others were facing the judges desk, the stage, suspending from the ceiling, jutting out of the walls. I looked at Freddie and smiled, grabbing his hand for reassurance before chancing a glance around the room at the other contestants. There were young people, old people, groups, pairs. There were some people who looked as though they'd dressed to be noticed in Lady Gaga-esque costumes, and one guy was dressed as Elvis, but in the main everyone was dressed casually. It was obvious everyone else was as nervous as I felt.

'Look over there' I heard Freddie whisper, turning my head to see where he was looking, following his gaze to a gorgeous girl who was standing in nothing but a gold bikini. I raised my eyebrows.

'Wonder why she got through' I said sarcastically, joining Freddie in perving at her before suddenly realising and slapping his arm. 'What would Katie say?'

'I don't know, I don't think I'd survive long enough to hear it' he laughed, looking at me with a mock frightened look on his face. I chuckled along with him turning to the front as a voice came booming over a microphone.

'Hello everyone. Thank you all for coming today. For those of you that don't know, my name is Anthea. I am the genius behind this concept' she joked, prompting nervous laughter from the crowd 'now, today is going to be about hearing you sing again just to refresh our memories on what you guys are made of. We'll listen to you all sing one song today, and then you'll come back tomorrow and do a duet with other contestants. Our judges and production team will then deliberate and you will find out whether you come back for day three. So, to make this easy, the boys are assigned a song, the girls another, the groups another and the over 25's another. This is just so that we can see if you can sing, and the songs aren't too challenging in all honesty, just some modern songs by modern artists, because that's what we are looking for out of this competition. Okay, you'll all watch each other, and it'll be a case of being brought up one act at a time. Is everybody clear? Good' she disappeared off the stage again in a blur of blonde.

I looked at Freddie 'She didn't tell us the songs!'

'Fuck, she didn't…'

Suddenly a voice came from the back of the room.

'Girls lyrics are at the back left, boys, here, back right and groups and over 25's…you come to the middle. Grab a sheet, first person is being called in one hour.'

I looked at Freddie in horror as the room seemed to explode into chaos.

'Meet me out front okay' I said into his ear as the crowd all started surging out of their chairs at once.

'Sure thing, see you outside'

* * *

I had my hands on my knees bent down laughing at Freddie's expression.

'It isn't that bad!' I spluttered eventually.

'It's Plan B. There's **RAP** in it' he said, looking at the lyrics sheet hopelessly, making me burst into another peal of laughter. 'It's not funny Ems'

'It is kind of funny' I continued before standing up straight and wiping my eyes of the tears that had formed. 'You like Plan B!'

'I like his music. I can't sing his music!'

'You can. All you have to do is change it into your style of singing…you brought your guitar. Tweak it a bit, change the rap part to a singing part…it'll be fine' I said positively, smiling at him encouragingly.

'You can say that, your song is fine for you' he said bitterly, twanging his guitar strings meekly.

'I wouldn't say that, but it isn't a disaster' I replied, glancing down at the lyrics for The Writer and scanning over them for the millionth time.

'Far from a disaster' he mumbled.

'Actually, it's a good thing for YOU.' I stated confidently, causing him to look up 'It means I can help you nail your song'

His face lit up at this realisation as I walked towards him and plonked myself down on the bench next to him, pulling the lyrics sheet off his knees and starting to read them, trying to figure out how to make this work.

* * *

We'd been called back into the room and told to sit and wait, warned that the cameras will all be rolling as the judges are introduced. The lights dim suddenly, throwing us as the audience into darkness whilst the stage remained under the glare of the massive overhead lights. Pandora came bouncing out of one side of the stage, prompting a massive cheer from the audience.

'Hey guys! Congratulations on making it to Boot Camp!' She yelled excitably, punching the air with her free hand that didn't have a microphone in it, earning herself another huge cheer from the crowd. 'Right, let's kick off the show!' she said, looking into a nearby camera 'Now, it has to be said that after months of auditions in the country's biggest cities and thousands of auditionees, we have selected some of the best talent we have ever had on the show. So I can safely say that this is going to be the most super-duper series yet…' she paused dramatically 'bring on UK Idol 2011!'

The crowd erupted into applause and shouting. Panda waited patiently for the noise to cease before continuing.

'We're pleased to welcome these guys' she said into the camera as she gestured towards us 'our whizzer 2011 Boot Camp contestants. They made it through the audition process, and now have three days in which to prove that they are worthy of being one of the twelve acts who are going to make it through to the live shows. And of course, who better than to decide who is worthy than our panel of JUDGES' Panda squealed, disappearing off the stage again as the back drop of the stage parted in the middle revealing the four judges. Again, the crowd went wild as they emerged from the shadows and walked towards the front of the stage as a dramatic male voice came booming over the speakers.

'Welcome our panel of judges to the stage. We have James Cook' Cook waved at the whooping mob, his face beaming with a genuine toothy grin. '…Effy Stonem…' she just looked into the crowd with a smirk, nodding her head slightly in acknowledgement of the clapping and whistles. '…Naomi Campbell…' she looked up from where she'd been looking at the floor of the stage, smiling slightly without letting it reach her eyes, scanning the crowd quickly as the room basically vibrated with cheers. '…And Jeremiah Jones…' he waved with both hands, his face beaming. They continued to stand there and wait for the cheers to die down when Panda reappeared with a cameraman following behind her.

'Hey guys!' she started, pulling their attention towards her, 'what a welcome, eh?'

'Yeah, they're too kind' JJ commented, looking out into the crowd with a pleased look on his face.

'Yeah, now do you have any advice for our contestants on getting through Boot Camp?'

'Just come on 'ere and sing to the best of yer ability, cos you're only gettin' one shot and the competition this year is pretty intense' Cook said into the microphone earnestly whilst looking into the crowds.

Panda nodded ferociously and moved the microphone in front of Effy's face. 'Be confident, but not cocky. Attention seeking outfits and stuff might well make us notice you, but you're here because of your voice not because you're handy with a glue gun and some sequins' she said pointedly, seemingly talking to someone in particular in the crowd as a spate of giggles broke out in that area of the theatre.

Panda laughed and moved the microphone to Naomi 'As Effy said, be confident, but don't be cocky or arrogant. Don't forget that we judge your performances here, but when it comes to the live shows it's up to the public to put you through. If you are a total di…' she paused as Effy hit her arm '…idiot' she dragged out, 'you won't get through, even if you can sing'

'Sound advice' Panda smiled before shifting the microphone again until it was close to JJ's face 'Um, what they said' he spluttered, looking upset when the crowd giggled.

'I think they said it all JJ' Panda said reassuringly, patting his shoulder. 'Now, take your seats judges. Let's get this show on the road'

* * *

A few hours later and we were sitting watching the umpteenth performance of Plan B's She Said, and I couldn't help but think that I hated whoever it was who'd believed giving us all the same songs was a good idea. Not only was it repetitive, what with only four songs in rotation, but it also meant that some people were murdering the songs because they weren't used to singing that sort of song. There had been quite a few good performances from each of the categories as well, but some of the acts on the stage MUST have paid money to progress through from the audition stages. I was in the middle of thinking this when Freddie stood up, causing me to turn to see what he was doing.

'I'm next' he said to me, his eyes slightly wide. I'd totally missed the guy come over to let him know this, too wrapped up in my own thoughts. 'And then it's you'

'Good luck, you'll be fine' I smiled reassuringly, ignoring the latter portion of his sentence. 'Freds. Fred. FREDDIE.' He turned around from where he was shuffling down the centre aisle with a confused face. 'Forgetting something?' I said, lifting up his guitar from where he'd left it leaning next to our seats. He pulled a face and hurried back over, taking it out of my hand and smiling before making his way towards the stage again. We were still waiting for the judges to tell the current guy to stop slaughtering the song, and as if by some sort of miracle, Naomi raised her hand to indicate for him to shut up.

'Thanks' she said bluntly, looking down at something on her desk as the guy stood helplessly in the middle of the stage.

'Erm, thanks' he muttered, wandering off stage left as Freddie sauntered on from stage right, smiling at the judges in a way that covered the nerves I knew were there.

'Hello Freddie' Effy stated 'When you're ready'

Freddie nodded once and placed his hands on his guitar as he started to sing. I smiled, he was really good, and looked at the judges to see what their reactions to him were but it was hard to tell from the back. They had all leaning back in their chairs, stances that told me they were a bit bored and probably also regretting the 'one song per category' choice too, but they seemed to straighten up somewhat at Freddie's take on the song. Naomi was twirling her hair around her fingers where she had it in a ponytail as she looked up at the stage and I watched the childish gesture with a smile, wondering whether it was nerves, boredom or just concentration. She turned to Effy as I thought this and whispered in her ear, and whatever she said Effy agreed with because she nodded and turned to Naomi with a smile before turning round and looking into the crowd. I glanced back up at Freddie as she did this, and back down again to see she was looking at me. I smiled uncomfortably and she smiled back, turning back to the front and nodding again, seemingly to no one in particular. Freddie stopped singing when Effy raised her hand and walked off the stage, meaning it was my turn. I jumped out of my seat and walked towards the front and onto the stage.

'Erm, hey Emily' Naomi said, looking at the folder of notes in front of her before looking up with a slight blush on her face. Effy turned to her and raised her eyebrow.

'Hey' I said, watching their exchange with interest.

'When you're ready' Effy said, ignoring the look that Naomi was throwing at her.

I sang my heart out, avoiding looking down at the judges for fear of seeing what their faces were like, whether they were hating it or loving it. I looked into the crowd and found Freddie's face where he'd gone and taken his seat again and just kept my eyes trained on him, and I could see he was smiling. I finished the song, never having been given a signal to stop and walked off stage without looking at the panel, stopping in the side of the stage and leaning against some scaffolding, breathing deeply. I watched as the next act went onto the stage and turned out walked back out into the theatre, sitting next to Freddie.

'That was incredible' he said, looking at me proudly.

'Speak for yourself' I retorted, punching his arm lightly. He laughed and we turned back to the stage to watch the next performance, which is when I noticed that Naomi Campbell had spun around in her seat and was looking directly at me.

'Good job' she mouthed silently with a slight smile before turning back to the front.

**A/N - Hope you liked it...thanks for readin' :)**


	10. Boot Camp Day Two

**-Naomi-**

'We've got 200 acts that we need to whittle down to just twelve. We need three girls, three boys, three groups and three over 25's that are going to make our live shows interesting and make people want to pick up the phone to vote.'

I was leaning back in my chair listening to Anthea prattle on, fiddling with my pen and not really paying too much attention. She seemed to think that none of us had been involved in the show before and was meticulously going through every detail.

'Naomi?' I sat up straight and looked at Anthea.

'Yes?'

'Are you listening to me?'

'No' I answered bluntly and truthfully, leaning back into my chair again as the others in the room giggled appreciatively.

Anthea sighed and stood up before walking to a massive board that had been put up on the wall which had photographs peppered all over it of the acts that we had to decide between and continued to inform everyone in the room of what we already knew. I looked around and saw that Cook was stealthily texting underneath the boardroom table, Effy was doodling idly and JJ was still listening intently to Anthea. I rolled my eyes and glanced around at the other members of the production team were sitting round the table making notes of everything that was being said. I spun my chair around and looked out of the large window while still twiddling my pen in my hands thinking back to Emily's audition for the millionth time that day. She was easily the best female singer in the competition and endearingly didn't seem to know it. She'd looked really good up on the stage as well, I mused, letting my mind wander back to the way her body moved subconsciously when she sang.

'NAOMI' I heard Anthea yell. I spun my chair around and faced her.

'Still not listening Anthea' I said sarcastically before pulling my chair into position under the table and resting my elbows on it. 'All we need to know is that tomorrow, after the duet stuff, we are going to have to choose 12 people to come back for day three, and they will be our final twelve…right?' I asked, looking at Anthea for confirmation.

'Well, I, well, actually…' Anthea stumbled before nodding, defeated. 'Okay. We'll sort this tomorrow; it has been a long day after all. You can all go' she finished, waving her hand in the direction of the double doors of the boardroom exasperatedly. Everyone jumped up, smiling at me for effectively ending their torture.

'Nice one Blondie' Cook said, slapping me on the back.

'Someone had to end it, or we'd have been there all night!' I joked, walking out of the room with them and wondering what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

'Hey' a recognisable voice said behind me, and I turned around to see Emily standing there dressed casually in a mostly unbuttoned blue checked shirt and skinny jeans.

'Hey Emily' I said, turning round again and perching on the low wall I'd been leaning against, soon joined by the redhead who pushed herself up and sat on the wall. 'You probably shouldn't sit there, you know, when I'm smoking. Your voice…' She laughed huskily and I snapped my head round to look at her to see her looking at me with a raised eyebrow. 'Good point' I said.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or so before she broke it.

'So, have you seen anyone you liked?' looking at me expectantly as I snapped my head round to look at her before looking down, feeling a slight blush start to creep up my cheeks.

'Erm, yeah, there's been some good acts coming through' I said, nodding, before taking a pull of my cigarette.

'There's been some shit too' she joked, causing me choke a bit on the smoke as I laughed.

'Yeah, that too' I chuckled when I regained my composure.

'Where are the others?' she asked, obviously referencing the other judges, looking around the empty smoking area pointedly.

'They went in…I stayed out here to smoke more' I said, pulling a face. This earned me another throaty laugh and I smiled at her before averting my eyes back to the far wall of the smoking area.

'Thanks, by the way' I looked at her questionably, curious as to what she meant. 'For yesterday, I was so nervous, so the fact that you liked it…' she paused, shrugging, 'meant a lot.' She held my eye contact and I smiled, drawn into her chocolate brown eyes.

'No problem' I said, looking away as I did. 'How're you feeling about today?' I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

'It's pretty nerve-wracking, the whole thing. I still don't know what we're singing yet though, but from what we've seen others singing already, it ain't going to be good'

I laughed and nodded in agreement, looking around the smoking area again, turning to face her when I heard her push herself off the wall, laughing a bit as she wiped down the back of her jeans to get rid of any debris from the wall.

'What?' she questioned, furrowing her brow slightly but still smiling.

'It's just that you have to jump down from sitting on this wall, this LOW wall' I joked, laughing as she stood, shocked.

'Fuck off!' she exclaimed, reaching over and jostling me, causing me to stumble a bit and drop my cigarette.

'Hey!' I laughed, looking down at the cigarette dumbly before stomping it out and kicking it away and looking back at her, 'this is the bit where you apologise…' I started sarcastically, rolling my hands in front of me in gesture.

She stood in front of me and raised one eyebrow, before narrowing her eyes in challenge.

'No'

I shook my head. 'Ever heard of the phrase 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'?' retorting to her challenge.

'Ever heard of the phrase 'smoking kills?' she countered immediately, smiling devilishly, and lifting her chin smugly.

I smiled, 'touché' impressed at her confidence, enjoying the easiness of the conversation.

'I'd better go back in, I probably shouldn't be fraternising with the enemy anyway' she said conspiratorially, leaning in towards me. I laughed with her and watched her leave before taking out another cigarette and putting it between my lips, lighting it and inhaling deeply as I stared up at the sky.

* * *

'Some of these song choices' Effy laughed, looking through the list of songs again 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart is on here.' She continued, pointing at it and showing me.

'I knew we shouldn't have let Anthea choose them!' I said, looking at the list 'I did try and tell her that if she was going to choose duets like that then to at least let them decide which one they got to sing, but she's assigning them' I grimaced, feeling sympathy for the acts having to sing love songs with people they didn't know.

'I don't think I can listen to another one' Cook grumbled from where he was laying on the large sofa in my dressing room, which they all seemed to prefer over their own as they never seemed to leave. 'They're so….'

'Cheesy' JJ said, looking at Cook with a smile on his face.

'Yeah, mate' Cook nodded, sitting himself up straight and rubbing his eyes. 'WAY too cheesy. But we should probably get back out there at some point'

'It'll be over before you know it Cookie' I said, slapping his shoulder as he strolled past me with Effy under his arm, laughing slightly at his downtrodden face.

* * *

'Emily and Freddie are next' Effy whispered, looking at me with a smirk before picking up her cup and sipping her drink.

'So' I said, staring her down.

'Just saying' she said, shrugging her shoulders and looking back towards the front where a piano was being dragged onto stage by guys dressed in black. She is so infuriating, I thought, turning to the front just as Freddie and Emily walked onto the stage. Freddie was dressed casually in a grey polo shirt and black jeans and I watched as he took position in front of a microphone as Emily took a seat behind the piano, looking over at the judge's panel confidently, more so than yesterday, obviously feeling at ease with Freddie on the stage as well.

'Hello' Freddie said into the microphone with a smile 'the song that we have been GIVEN' he emphasized, causing Emily to giggle quietly and turn away so as to hide it 'is Come What May' he turned to Emily and nodded, and I watched as she positioned her hands over the keys, the smile still on her face from giggling, before she composed herself and started to play, her brow furrowing and her tongue peeking out between her teeth in concentration. I smiled at the sight when I glanced over at Effy who was watching me intently, smiling knowingly and giving me a nod just as Freddie started singing;

_Never knew I could feel like this  
Like I've never seen the sky before  
Want to vanish inside your kiss  
Every day I love you more and more  
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings  
Telling me to give you everything  
Seasons may change winter to spring  
But I love you until the end of time_

_Come what may, come what may_

_I will love you until my dying day_

He sang it beautifully, his voice complimenting the piano, the emotion palpable. Soon after he finished singing, Emily began her part of the duet, continuing to play the piano as she sang;

_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place  
suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace  
suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste  
It all revolves around you  
_

I watched as they began harmonising, the room having gone completely silent as the crowd watched the performance.

_And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide  
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side  
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide  
But I love you until the end of time _

_Come what may, come what may_  
_I will love you until my dying day_  
_Oh come what may, come what may_  
_I will love you_

_Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place…_

_Come what may, come what may_  
_I will love you until my dying day_

The room stayed totally silent when the performance finished, the whirring of the cameras the only noise that could be heard. Emily caught my eye with a panicked look on her face at the crowd's unusual reaction, and I just stared right back into her brown eyes as it stayed silent for another thirty seconds before it exploded into the loudest applause I'd ever heard. Cook stood up next to me, clapping his hands wildly, prompting JJ and Effy to do the same. I remained in my seat before standing up to join them, clapping feebly, Emily's eyes remaining on mine from where she was still sitting behind the piano with a look of shock on her face, and I finally caught myself and smiled widely at her. She smiled back equally widely just as Freddie ran over to her and pulled her into his arms, spinning her around before they left the stage, watched by the entire room who were still cheering manically.

'I tell you somethin', the two of them are goin' through. No matter what' Cook bellowed into my ear over the noise. I turned to him and gave him my best 'no shit Sherlock' look before taking my seat again, biting my lip nervously at the butterflies that had taken over my stomach.

* * *

'Wow, wow, wow' Anthea exclaimed upon walking into the boardroom, dumping her bag and paperwork onto the table and looking at us all. 'We have ourselves a show!'

It was five thirty pm and Boot Camp day two was over and done with, the Emily and Freddie performance being the talk of the day. Effy, JJ, Cook and I were now holed up in the boardroom with Chinese take-out and we all looked up at Antheas exclamation with facefuls of food and raised eyebrows.

'Now, Naomi, as you so politely pointed out yesterday, you guys know how this works and we don't want to be here all night, we've got to call everyone who is being invited back tomorrow. So, we'll make this quick and painless and get rid of the definite no-no's' she said, walking over to the board and purposefully ripping off a photograph of an act we'd seen at Boot Camp who had successfully murdered both songs he'd attempted. She scanned the board and ripped off another three as we all watched. 'Little help?'

Cook jumped up, taking his take-out container with him, pointing at each of the acts he thought should go as we all agreed, and debating over the ones that we thought should be a maybe. After fifteen minutes the board was looking dramatically sparser as we'd got more callous at cutting the acts down.

'So, any definite yeses?' Anthea questioned, looking at the board with her arms folded across her chest.

We all looked at her as if she was mad while Effy stood up gracefully and pulled Freddie's photo off the board and moved it to a bare section of the board, before doing the same with Emily and another act from the girl's category that had impressed us with her strong diva voice.

'So, we've got 80 acts on the board, 3 have been put through – two in the girls, one in the boys – which means we have 77 to whittle down to 9' JJ said, looking at his watch and grimacing. 'and there is only one space left for a girl'

We all looked between each other hopelessly as we realised that any hope of this being an early one had gone out of the window, before standing up in a line in front of the board and staring at the photos as if the right 9 acts would come leaping out at us.

* * *

It was ten o'clock before we'd finally chosen our final twelve and I clapped before standing up and stretching after hours of sitting down deliberating.

'Thank god it's over' I said dramatically, before grabbing my bag and checking my phone.

'It is for you, I've now got to go and let all the people who don't need to come back tomorrow know' Anthea said, looking at us for sympathy.

'Poor Anth' Cook teased, walking over to her and planting a kiss on her cheek. 'See you tomorrow gorgeous' he said cheerily, running out of the room as she reached out to clip his ear. She turned around and laughed; she enjoyed their banter and was pleased that Effy had Cook.

'Bye mum' Effy said, wandering over to Anthea and hugging her, a hug which she accepted with gratitude, smiling at her daughter proudly as she stepped back and began to follow Cook out of the room. I watched and immediately thought of my mum, knowing I should call her at some point this week. I said my goodbyes to Anthea and wished her luck with her phone calls, laughing as she grimaced, before making my way down the hall towards the lift.

**A/N - Hope you liked it, Boot Camp day two is done, they both made it through (well done them) so i'll mainly skip over day three and go straight to the celebrating. I think...this could change depending on what happens when I start writing it...anyway, thanks for reading!**


	11. Mentors

**Disclaimer - I don't own Skins.**

**-Emily-**

I held the phone away, laughing as I did so, waiting for the muffled screams to stop before putting it back to my ear tentatively.

'You about done?' I joked, a beaming smile still adorning my face.

'Yeah' Katie breathlessly replied, 'I am so pleased for you! Seriously Ems, this is mega'

'Yeah, Kay, I can't really believe it. Don't think it has sunk in' I said, absently looking over to the other side of the corridor where Freddie was on the phone, smiling at him as he held the handset away from his ear as I had done a few seconds earlier, figuring he had probably just broken the news to Karen.

'Have you told mum and dad?' Katie asked, her voice hoarser than usual from the ear piercing scream she'd let out after I'd told her. I grimaced at the thought.

'No' I paused, subconsciously tensing up at the thought of doing it when a stroke of genius hit me 'do you want to tell them…?' I asked hopefully.

Katie yelped 'Really? Yeah…I'd love to! Are you sure?' She burbled excitably, relishing the opportunity to take centre stage and make a dramatic announcement.

'Yeah, it's okay Katie. I don't really want to tell them over the phone and I'm not sure when I'll be home to let them know' I said, feeling my body relax at the thought of not having to deal with mum once she hears I'm going to be a UK Idol contestant.

'Okay!' Katie said, although I don't think she'd bothered listening to my reasoning, before going into a long speech about how 'awesome' it was that both and Freddie and I had got through, blathering on about what she'll wear to the live shows, and whether she'd get any camera time. I switched off whilst she burbled on, my whole body practically buzzing at the thought of what the next few months had in store for me.

* * *

'Congratulations guys' Anthea beamed, her eyes travelling around the giant boardroom table while she held her champagne flute aloft, watching as we all followed suit, before draining her glass as everyone else sipped the Champagne. I raised my eyebrows and looked at Freddie whose face held a similar expression, both of us stifling a giggle as we caught each other's eyes. 'That's good stuff. Anyway, you are the lucky few who beat out thousands of others to be here, and you will be the twelve acts who go through to our live shows which start next Saturday. As you are all aware, the auditions are being aired right now, the Boot Camp stages will be aired this Saturday and the live shows will begin next Saturday. So, you guys haven't got long to rehearse and get yourselves together before we push you out onto a stage with a microphone in front of a ten million strong audience' She paused, taking in our horrified faces with an amused smile before letting out a laugh 'luckily for you' she continued 'you'll be working with the best in the business. They are, of course, our judges, Cook, Effy, JJ and Naomi. This team will make sure you go out onto the stage every week with the tools you need to pull off an amazing performance and, hopefully, pull in enough votes to stay in the show.'

She paused to take a breath as she took a seat at the head of the table.

'Now, the judges are pitted against each other, just as you guys are, so we need to assign each category a judge. This person will be your mentor, and will be responsible for your song choices and for the choreography, wardrobe and performance in general.'

We all kept our eyes trained on Anthea, each of us trying to take in the information she was throwing at us. A cameraman, who had been filming the whole speech whilst wandering around the room distractingly, trained his camera on Anthea as she picked up a file from in front of her and started reading.

'So, the boys, Nathan, Freddie and Harry, you will be mentored by…' she paused dramatically as all three lads leant forward in their seats in anticipation as the camera turned to look at them 'James Cook' They all whooped, obviously pleased with their mentor, slapping each other on the back as though they'd been friends forever.

'The girls, Emily, Mandy and Laura will be mentored by…' she paused again, the camera turning towards us as we all sat waiting for the verdict 'Naomi Campbell' I smiled widely, pleased at the choice, turning to the other girls, surprised to see their faces looking disappointed before realising that she was probably horrible to them in their auditions. I pulled a face and looked at Freddie, who was smiling at me, knowing I'd be pleased with this result.

'The over-25 category, Douglas, Harriet and Billy, will be mentored by…Effy Stonem. And the Groups, you'll be mentored by JJ' the room was filled with a variety of reactions, some overjoyed, some not so pleased at who they had been assigned. The cameraman scoped around the room, collecting all of the reactions on tape to be cut and pasted together for Saturday night's show.

'I hope you're all happy with the mentors that you have been assigned, they are all very talented, so none of them should be sneered at' she said pointedly, looking towards the two girls on my left who looked as though they were about to burst into tears. 'Moving on swiftly, we've a lot to get through, you guys need to sign your contracts and then we need to discuss moving you all into the UK Idol house!'

Everyone glanced up at this, forgetting their joy or disappointment at the mentor announcements. I looked at Freddie, who looked equally confused, as we'd had this discussion and assumed we'd be staying in a hotel.

'Didn't we tell you about that bit?' Anthea said stone-faced but with a glint in her eye, looking around the room innocently at our shocked expressions.

* * *

'I think I'm getting drunk' I mused, looking around the table at the other faces, who all looked as though they were on their way there too, including Freddie. All of the final twelve acts had decided to go out after the day we'd had, filling in reams of paperwork and discussing the move into the UK Idol house, which apparently we had to do by Monday coming. So here we were, getting to know each other in a fancy hotel bar in London, having been put up here for a night by StonemTV after all of the paperwork had taken much longer than expected.

'That's the idea of celebrating Ems' Freddie slurred at me, grinning dopily, making me laugh as I took another sip of whatever the drink that had just been placed in front of me was. 'That's the spirit' he said, nudging me with his elbow as he gulped from his own drink carelessly.

Everyone had been chatting good-naturedly, finding out details of where people were from, how their first audition went, what they sang. The conversation had remained all about the UK Idol auditions and process, moving in together and whether we were pleased with our mentor choices and I was getting bored of the repetitiveness, so even though the other contestants seemed nice, I wandered over to the bar and hitched myself up onto a bar stool, gesturing to the bartender and ordering a water as I looked over at the table of people I'd be spending the majority of my time with for the foreseeable future, hopefully. A thought suddenly popped into my head that one of them would be the winner of UK Idol, and I was considering this when a voice sounded behind me.

'Fancy seeing you here' the voice causing me to turn around to find the source of the interruption. Naomi Campbell was standing there, sporting a similar grin to the one Freddie had at the table and I flashed a friendly smile.

'What, you don't think I hang out in these kinds of places?' I quipped, spinning my body round on the stool so I was facing her entirely. Her face fell, and she looked kind of confused for a second, unsure of how to answer. 'Don't hurt yourself' I joked, chuckling.

'I think I'm a bit drunk' she said randomly, looking above the bar and squinting at a sign in an attempt to read it, giving me an opportunity to take in her appearance, settling my eyes on her cleavage in her low cut top, flicking them up after a while so as not to get caught, 'no, I am drunk' she concluded, her blue eyes focusing on mine again.

'Ditto' I said, gesturing towards the bottle of water that had just been placed in front of me. Naomi raised her eyebrows at this, grinning.

'Wimp!' she stated proudly.

'What?' I exclaimed, thinking back to the banter we'd shared the previous day in the smoking area, smiling at the thought. 'How do you work that out?'

'Drinking water on a celebration night out? Who does that?' she scoffed, looking over towards the table of people who were now involved in some kind of drinking game and who hadn't noticed I was gone.

'I've got to drive back to Bristol in the morning, because your lot couldn't keep within the times we were told. How hard is it to fill in some paperwork?' I retorted confidently, squaring my shoulders a bit for effect whilst maintaining a jokey smile.

She laughed, screwing her face up a bit and shrugging her shoulders in lieu of an answer before taking a step closer to me, surprising me because she was now riskily close, and I looked up into her ridiculously blue eyes, swallowing nervously as my mind raced. She maintained the eye contact as she leaned forward and I flicked my eyes down to her lips subconsciously.

'Do you mind?' her questioning voice snapping my attention back and I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what she meant.

'Wh-what?' I said, my voice husky. She pointed towards my water, one eyebrow cocked. 'Oh, no, no, help yourself' I stuttered, watching her as she drank it, inwardly cringing at the mistake I'd made, wondering if she'd noticed.

'Thanks' she said, looking at me, a slight tint to her cheeks that I assumed was from the alcohol.

'Where's the other three then?' I asked, fiddling with a coaster.

'We came back together, but they've all fucked off to bed. Boring bastards' she commented before looking at me pointedly 'just like you' she laughed, pointing out the water again.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head slightly as she carried on chuckling. I smiled at her eventually, finding it adorable that she found her own joke that funny, figuring the alcohol was playing a huge part in her being uncharacteristically giggly.

'Congratulations, by the way' she said once she'd stopped laughing, looking at me sincerely.

'Thanks, I cannot believe I've made it through to the finals!' I said animatedly, about to launch into a speech about how grateful I was for the opportunity.

'I didn't mean that…' she said, smirking, pausing to look at my reactions as I looked at her with a dumb expression on my face, curious as to what she could be congratulating me on. 'I meant the fact that you were lucky enough to get ME as a mentor' she said, gesturing towards herself before spreading her arms wide with a self-confident smile on her face.

I laughed loudly at this, my eyebrow cocking of its own accord. 'Oh, that. I don't know if congratulations or commiserations are in order to be honest' I retorted cheekily, mirroring her smirk confidently. She looked slightly taken aback, plastering a mock hurt look on her face and grabbing her heart theatrically.

'Ouch!'

'What? Don't tell me we were the category you were after?' I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly, eager to know the answer although not willing to show her that this was the case.

'You were the category everyone was after' she replied seriously, her eyes trained on mine again, the playful glint returning as she started talking again 'you have no idea what I had to do to make Anthea give me that category'

I laughed. 'I hope we'll be worth it' I commented, watching her as she leaned in towards my ear, my eyes wide.

'Oh, I'm sure you'll be worth it' she whispered, her voice deeper than usual, almost sultry in tone, her emphasis on the word 'you'll'. I felt my eyebrows soar upwards just as a voice cut through the moment, causing Naomi to back away and I watched her face as she smiled at someone over my shoulder.

'Naomi!'

_Fucking Freddie_, I thought as I turned back towards the bar away from both of them, my eyes falling upon the bottle of water as I heard them start chatting, my brain having gone into overdrive at the notion that Naomi Campbell was, I think, flirting with me.

'Come over, sit with us' Freddie said excitably, staggering a bit as he did, causing Naomi to raise her eyebrows.

'I think I'm going to call it a night Freddie, it's been a long day and I've had way too much to drink' she said, elongating the 'way' dramatically.

'Oh, okay' Freddie nodded, looking back over at the table of contestants as they shouted him to hurry up with their drinks, none of them having noticed Naomi at the bar. 'Yeah, alright guys chill out' he said grumpily, walking over to an empty spot of the bar and catching the bartender's attention before reeling off a long and complex order. I turned back to Naomi, hoping that we'd pick up our conversation from where we'd been interrupted, but ended up furrowing my brow at her now ducked down stance.

'What are you doing?' I questioned, smirking slightly at how ridiculous she looked.

'I don't want them to see me, I'll never make it out of here' she whispered, backing away slowly as I watched, amused.

'Really? Interesting that…' I said cheekily, turning my body to face her again before looking over my shoulder and back at her, cocking my eyebrow before opening my mouth to shout 'Ev…' I was abruptly cut off by her leaping forward and clamping her hand over my mouth whilst using me as a shield from their view, meaning our faces were level, our eyes locked.

'Shush' she hissed quickly, looking over my shoulder hastily before she looked back into my eyes, her deep blue pools intensely fixed on mine, causing me to gulp nervously at the close contact, my heart rate quickening slightly. We stayed liked that for a few moments until she seemed to realise she still had her hand clamped over my mouth and she released it slowly, backing away again, our eyes still connected, although this time she didn't stop stepping backwards. 'I'd better go, I'll catch you, erm, soon, I expect' she murmured quickly, spinning on her heel and heading for the exit without turning back.

'Okay' I said as I watched her leave, 'See you' I added, mainly to myself as Naomi had already walked out the door, leaving me sitting alone at the bar.

* * *

I made my excuses shortly after that and went up to my own room, leaving behind the rowdy table that were now discussing leaving the hotel and heading out to a club. I stepped through the hotel room door and threw my bag and the key card onto the dresser before wandering over to the bed and collapsing onto it, flicking the television on and looking at the screen without actually taking in the programme, my mind filled with my exchange with Naomi at the bar.

After a while I sighed and hopped up off the bed, grabbing my MacBook off the desk I'd set it up on earlier and sank back into the mattress as I lifted the lid, signing in and opening up the Google homepage, poising my fingers over the keyboard and pausing, wondering whether googling her would be a bit weird. I mulled it over for an instant before quickly inputting her name and tapping enter before I could change my mind. A list of links came up instantaneously, a mixture of Wikipedia pages, fan pages and news articles filling the page. I furrowed my brow in confusion at some of the links that had appeared, rolling my eyes in realisation when I remembered that there were two Naomi Campbell's. I narrowed my search, the page changing again, and I flicked through some of the links, noticing that there was nothing about any relationships, ever, not much about her background on Wikipedia, no photos of her out and about with anyone except Cook, Effy and JJ, the latest postings being shots of her outside the UK Idol studios with short articles about the UK Idol Boot Camp stage. I leaned back against the headboard with my computer resting on my outstretched legs, clicking the laptop shut gently and placing it on the bedside table. She must just be really private, I considered, lacing my fingers together over my stomach as I pondered the fact that there was little or nothing about her online, finding this surprising because of her celebrity status, unable to shake the fact that it was unusual she wasn't ever seen out on dates, or with boyfriends…or girlfriends.

I shook my head in exasperation at the whirlwind of Naomi Campbell centric thoughts currently occupying my head, wondering how she'd managed to get to me so much, figuring I needed to snap out of it as I pushed myself off the bed and headed for the bathroom to shower, my thoughts turning to the long drive home tomorrow with an inevitably hung-over and grumpy Freddie as a passenger.

**A/N - Thanks, again, to everyone who is reading, reviewing and alerting. I'm glad you are enjoying this story! I think I say the same thing at the end of every chapter on these authors notes, I think I need to start being more imaginative with them...**


	12. UK Idol House

**...I don't own Skins.**

**-Naomi-**

'It's freezing' I moaned, my teeth chattering as I wrapped my coat even tighter around my frame, leaning back against the red brick wall of the UK Idol house. 'Can't we wait inside?'

'No. The whole idea of a photo opportunity is that we are in the photos' Effy said with sarcasm; looking at me from where she was standing next to Cook. 'They won't be much longer, I'm sure'

'They better not be' I said, trying to put a threatening edge to my voice but failing due to my jaw quivering in reaction to the weather. I glanced over the large driveway towards the gated entrance to the house where a swarm of photographers were clicking furiously with their high performance cameras and scowled. 'Why do they think people want to look at pictures of us freezing our tits off?'

Effy laughed and cuddled in closer to Cook for warmth as he smiled and waved over at the photographers, a cigarette hanging from his lip. JJ was standing next to him, wrapped up in a woolly hat, scarf and gloves and I eyed the garments enviously, wishing I'd thought of bundling up like he had. I was about to start grumbling again when I heard the gates start to move against the gravel of the driveway and I turned towards them hopefully, my face lighting up as I realised that they had finally decided to turn up.

'Look alive guys! We're filming' A voice boomed from somewhere. We all turned to each other, confused at where it had come from and who it was. 'I'm up here you dopey bastards.' I looked up and saw Anthea hanging out of a top floor window of the house, a megaphone in her hand and an exasperated expression on her face. 'We are FILMING' I nodded up at her, smiling widely as the cameramen starting rolling and the convoy of blacked out people carriers approached the house, the photographers who had been loitering by the gate scrambling over each other as they tried to get their shots of the contestants and the judges together. I kept my smile frozen on my face as the cars gradually drew to a stop, the suited and booted drivers hopping out of the front seats and sliding open the doors of each car simultaneously, as though they'd rehearsed the timing. Although, knowing Anthea, they probably had. I glanced over at Effy nervously, and she returned a reassuring smile.

'_Do you think I may have been…inappropriate…' I said quietly, my muffled voice barely a whisper as I sat at the breakfast table in the hotel room with my forehead resting against the cold glass, my hands stretched out in front of me grasping a cold glass of water, after regaling Effy with what had happened at the bar the previous night with Emily. _

'_Inappropriate, how exactly?' Effy questioned, picking at her croissant absently, her gaze burning into my slumped form. 'I don't see how that is inappropriate.' _

'_Okay. Do you think I may have been…' I paused, looking up and groaning at the ache that was forming in the back of my skull before continuing '…careless?' _

'_Oh come on Nai, you're being ridiculous, it was drunken banter' Effy reassured, leaning over and taking my hand in hers and squeezing it gently. 'You're worrying about nothing'_

I let her words run through my head as the contestants started hopping out of the vehicles and making their way towards their mentors. I watched as Mandy and Laura started walking nervously in my direction, and I kept my smile glued to my face, secretly loving the fact that they seemed apprehensive. I was watching them approach when I spotted the redhead exit a different vehicle from the other girls, observing her as she thanked the driver who was still standing next to the car, feeling my face smile along with hers contagiously as she shared a joke with the middle aged man.

'Hi Naomi' Mandy and Laura said in unison, avoiding my eyes as though they'd turn to stone under my stare.

'Hello Mandy, Laura' I said in my friendliest tone, nodding at each of them in turn, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden, looking over towards the other judges to avoid the gazes of the two girls. Effy and JJ were chatting good naturedly with their acts whilst Cook laughed raucously with his, the three guys, including Freddie, smiling widely at their mentor. I furrowed my brow, turning back to the two girls, looking over their shoulders to see Emily wandering towards us with a smile on her face.

'Aloha guys' she said in a friendly tone, waving her hand once before stuffing it back into her coat pocket, stopping next to me and looking around at our three faces in turn with raised eyebrows. 'Getting on like a house on fire over here I see' she said, giggling as she looked over to the other huddles of people who genuinely were getting along before turning back to us and rocking on her heels in an exaggerated gesture. 'Sooo. This is awkward'

'Bit more so now Emily' I said, rolling my eyes at her, earning myself a chuckle. I felt my lips curl into a smile and turned away to hide it, noticing the other groups heading towards the gate and the awaiting photographers as I did so. 'Come on then, group photo time' I said, clapping my hands together once and looking over at the two girls as they flinched at the sound. 'You two should try and smile maybe' I said sarcastically, making my way towards the gate, turning my head as I heard the gravel next to me crunch, noticing Emily catch up and start walking along beside me companionably.

'I think they're scared of you' she stated, smiling down at the gravel as she walked.

'Who, me?' I retorted in a mock surprised tone, enjoying the sound of her throaty laughter as we made our way towards the throng of eager paparazzi.

* * *

'This place is insane' Freddie commented from where he was perched on the arm of the sofa, eyeing the room with an impressed look on his face following Antheas tour of the property. I nodded in agreement along with the others as I craned my neck to take another look around.

The whole house had been decorated specifically for UK Idol, and Anthea had decided on a single colour scheme throughout, meaning deep brown hardwood floors and white walls were commonplace, as well as the wall mounted cameras that were dotted around them, the somewhat boring scheme made more exciting with funky modern artwork and bright accessories. The living room was huge, big enough to not feel cramped regardless of the countless people and cameramen standing in it, with large cream sofas arranged in front of a fireplace, above which a large flat screen television was hung, a glass coffee table in the middle of the arrangement. A lacquered black piano was sitting in the corner and brightly coloured bean bags had been placed in one section of the room purposefully as some kind of makeshift extra seating area. I stopped taking in the living room, suddenly noticing that the bright red hair which should have stood out against this neutral backdrop was nowhere to be seen, twisting round and looking at all of the other faces who were clogging up the room before standing up and moving deeper into the house to seek her out.

I wandered into the kitchen, stopping as I heard her husky voice behind me, spinning round to place the sound.

'This. Is. Amazing' she said, her voice awestruck, looking around the room with widened eyes. I glanced around, taking in the sheer size of the room before noticing the details. The kitchen counters were wrapped around three walls of the room, a silver double door fridge and silver double oven breaking up the black granite work surface. Silver appliances sat on the worktop periodically, the walls mounted with hooks and magnetic strips that held cooking utensils and stainless steel kitchen knives. Cupboards lined the room, both below the worktop and above it, and the kitchen sink and drainer were situated in front of a large window, looking out into the sizeable back garden. A huge dining table stretched along the fourth wall, all the place settings already set, a decorative vase of flowers having been placed in the middle of it. It did seem like a chef's dream of a kitchen I thought as I turned back towards Emily who was still letting her eyes flit around the room, enjoying watching her enthusiasm, creasing my forehead curiously as she walked over to the fridge and pushed the ice maker's lever with her finger, ice falling out almost instantaneously and skittering along the hardwood floor noisily as we both watched.

'Definitely works' Emily said conclusively, her eyes glinting playfully when she lifted them from the floor to meet mine.

'What did you think it was, a prop?' I said sarcastically, looking back down at the ice which was already starting to melt upon contact with the heated hardwood of the floor.

'Hey, I thought it'd make you feel more at home. You are 'ice queen Campbell' after all' she said, using her hands to emphasise the quotation marks around the phrase the media had coined for me, chuckling. I narrowed my eyes at her.

'Do you believe everything you read?'

'No, if I did I'd probably be as scared of you as the other two are' Emily laughed, moving over to the counter and pulling herself up onto it, resting her head against the upper cupboard before continuing. 'Plus, i think I'll be better off not. They were saying in the car on the way over that there will be loads of stories written about us that aren't true, especially now that we have, like, massive public exposure. And that people will sell stories about us…' she trailed off, looking over towards the large window from where she sat and staring out of it.

'Have you got something to be worried about then?' I asked with interest, leaning against the back of one of the dining room chairs.

'Well, I'm no angel.' She said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. 'But I think I can safely say the people that I spend time with wouldn't ever do that' she said, nodding her head slowly as she spoke.

'Now, THAT was convincing' I said, laughing lightly but stopping as she turned to me with her brow furrowed. 'What?'

'You never get people selling stories about you'

'No, I don't' I confirmed.

'How come?'

'I surround myself with a very limited group of people, Cook, Effy, JJ, my mum, you know. I've been working in this industry since leaving high school, I started out as work experience at a record label and I worked my way up, eventually leaving to start up CampbellOne, so I've always been surrounded by fame, and I've witnessed the shit that comes with it. It made me wary very young, luckily, because now there aren't hordes of people with stories about me. It's just the way it worked out for me. For those that find fame sprung upon them overnight, like you and all of the others out there' I gestured towards the living room with a slight inclination of my head 'you'll find that people you've not heard from since play group will start coming out the woodwork. There are people who'll see this as an opportunity to profit from you and they will take it. That's just a fact' I shrugged, pushing myself off the chair and looking at Emily who had returned to staring silently out of the window, a concerned expression on her face. 'Hey, you'll be fine. At the end of the day, it's about the singing, right. It's not about that one time you smoked a spliff during your lunch break at college' I reassured her with a laugh as I headed over to the counters and started pulling open drawers until I found one containing tea towels, grabbing one from the top and heading over to where the ice had landed, bending down to mop up the puddle that had taken its place, glancing up to see Emily looking down at me curiously. 'What? Someone might slip.' I paused, thinking for a second 'Although this could come in handy in terms of sabotage later in the competition' I said, laughing as I stood up, throwing the tea towel on the counter and looking back towards Emily who was smiling but who still looked deep in thought. I felt guilty at the harsh reality I'd just dealt her, alongside an inexplicable need to make her feel better. 'You know what, you shouldn't worry about it, as long as the people that matter to you know the truth, who cares? And you know what my trick is?' She looked at me inquisitively, her brown eyes boring into mine 'I just don't read it. I ignore the existence of tabloids. Seriously, some stuff they do write about me…I'd be institutionalised if I took it to heart'

Emily smiled more genuinely, her worry seeming to lift slightly.

'And whatever happens, deny everything' I added in a hushed tone, leaning in conspiratorially.

She let out a hearty chuckle at this, quietening and turning her head towards the door as Antheas best authoritative voice travelled along the corridor and into the kitchen. 'Everyone into the front room now please'

She hopped down from where she had been sitting on the countertop and landed lightly on her feet, walking towards me and surprising me by pulling me into a tight hug.

'Thanks Naomi' she said genuinely, stepping back but holding onto my shoulders for a second before letting go and walking backwards towards the door as she let her eyes carry on admiring the kitchen that she seemed to love so much, spinning on her heel and making her way through the corridor towards the lounge as I watched her go, inexplicably rooted to the spot.

* * *

'That's pretty much it guys' Anthea concluded, flicking through the sheets of paper she had in front of her once more, checking there was nothing further.

'You sure Anth? I don't mind sitting in here listening to you for another three hours if need be' Cook said mockingly, standing up and stretching out his back before looking over at Anthea and winking cheekily. Anthea rolled her eyes and carried on shuffling through her papers.

'Any questions?'

The room was silent as everyone looked around at each other, wondering if anyone was going to pipe up. I sat hoping no one would so that we could get out of there, having been avoiding eye contact with everyone since joining the room an age ago, jumping out of my seat and heading directly out of the living room door after what I deemed was a reasonable amount of time to wait for someone to formulate a question.

'Hey, Naomi?' I rolled my eyes before spinning around and peering around the door, every person training their eyes on me as I did so. 'Can I have a quick word before you leave?'

My heart fluttered nervously at Antheas words, my head nodding of its own accord as she stood up, gathering her stuff before walking towards me, turning to the curious faces in the room as she reached the door.

'I'll be seeing you all tomorrow afternoon. It'll be your first day in the studios and you'll get to meet everyone who puts together the show. But your mentors will be here first thing tomorrow morning, so be up bright and early.' She said cheerily as a few groans emanated from the group, the loudest coming from Cook causing me to smile despite the fact my mind was racing about what Anthea needed to talk to me about. I let her pass me so that she could lead me to wherever she wanted to have this discussion, following her as she made for the kitchen, watching as she took a seat at the dining table but choosing not to sit down myself. She looked at me curiously but seemed to decide not to query it. 'So, Naomi. Do you know why I need to talk to you?'

I looked down at my hands, clenching and unclenching my jaw, before biting my bottom lip and glancing back up. 'Nope, nothing springs to mind.' I said in as confident a voice as I could muster.

'Right' Anthea said, sighing. 'Well then, answer me this. Why did you fight so hard for the girl's category?'

I stared at her, my mind working at 100 miles per hour trying to figure out what would prompt her to ask that question. Perhaps she has witnessed one of mine and Emily's conversations, or perhaps Emily has approached Anthea with concerns, or maybe someone else within the group has, or perhaps Effy ratted me out. I immediately discarded that, before considering the possibility that Anthea was as omniscient as Effy. All the while the seconds were ticking by, and Anthea was looking at me with increasing concern. I stayed silent, not sure what to say, an unusual occurrence for me.

Anthea finally broke the silence.

'I don't understand why you fought for the category, but then you aren't even making an effort with the girls' I looked at her with my brow furrowed, confused and elated about the fact she wasn't yelling at me for my sudden lack of professionalism regarding mentor/contestant relationships.

'Huh?' was my intelligently put together response.

'You fought for the category, but you aren't making an effort with the girls.' She repeated 'You've barely spoken to them today, and you just don't seem to be interested in doing so. You've been part of this process for long enough to know that gelling with the acts is as important as anything else. They need to be able to trust you, and your opinion. They need to be able to come to you with concerns, or questions. By not bothering to build relationships with Mandy and Emily and Laura you are basically throwing away their chances. It's not fair on the contestants Naomi'

I listened to her speech intently, deciding not to mention that Emily and I were getting along famously, pursing my mouth to the side of my face and chewing the inside of my lip, the evident disappointment in her tone causing an uncomfortable lump to form in my throat.

'I know, and I'm sorry Anthea. Seriously, I am, it's just been so, like, mental this year, what with the extra audition locations and…'

'I get it Naomi. Just fix it, okay.' Anthea stated, interrupting my rambling as she stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me standing alone and speechless in it for the second time that day.

* * *

'I understand that the theme this week is 'your favourite song', but we still have to appeal to the masses. You know, for votes' I started, trying to keep my tone light and friendly.

'But what's the point of the theme if it's regulated' Laura said confidently, looking over to Mandy who nodded in agreement, whilst I fought to stop myself rolling my eyes and offering up a sarcastic comment to boot.

I'd left the kitchen after my talking to and gone straight back into the front room, grabbed my contestants and taken them to the bottom floor office of the house. I was currently sitting with them all facing me across the large desk, discussing their Saturday night song choices. So far I'd concentrated on Mandy and Laura, trying to do as Anthea wanted and make them more comfortable around me. It'd obviously worked, I thought bitterly.

'I see your point with that, honestly. But if you sing a little known song by a little know artist you will not get votes. The audience who watch UK Idol listen to mainstream music, songs that everyone has heard, stuff that made it into the Top 40. And by singing those songs, it gives the audience the ability to compare your performance with something, so they know if it sounds good. You see…?'

'I get it' Emily piped up, disappearing as she spun round on the office chair she was sat in, her face sporting a grin as she came back into view, stopping the chairs rotation with her foot. I felt my face relax and smiled, the stiffness leaving my body at her words, only then realising that I'd tensed up at the slight confrontation that Laura was presenting me with. I turned back to Laura and raised both my eyebrows.

'Okay. Yeah, I get it too.' Laura said dejectedly.

'Look, as you go further through the competition...which I'm sure you will...' Laura looked up smiling at my comment as Emily snorted lightly at my blatant attempts to get her on-side 'you can sing whatever you like, okay. But for now, we just need to get people behind you'

'Okay Naomi'

_Finally. _

'Good, so, bearing in mind what I have just told you' I started, stressing the latter part of the sentence, 'what do you guys want to sing on Saturday?'

**A/N - So, that's the house...hope you liked it. Huge thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, etc. I love that you are enjoying the story and take the time to let me know your thoughts. On that note, any song suggestions for the first live show...? Let me know, i'm off to obliterate some brain cells. **


	13. Your Favourite Song'

**Disclaimer - I don't own Skins or anything else mentioned...**

**-Emily- **

I was sitting in the kitchen when I heard the front door open, and I made no effort to move to greet whoever it was that had come in, instead staying sat at the dining table massaging my temples slowly, deciding to just wait until whoever it was discovered me. I sat in silence for a while before jumping at the sound of something being kicked behind me, not having heard anyone come into the room, assuming that whoever it was would still be taking in the bombsite that we referred to as the living room.

'It's not what it looks like' I started, my voice huskier due to the amount of alcohol and cigarettes I thought it would be sensible to consume last night.

'Isn't it?'

'No…' I paused for a second, my brain scrolling through what could be a reasonable explanation for the mess, the alcohol bottles and cans, the overflowing ash trays and for Mandy snoozing in the corner 'unless what you think it looks like is the remainder of the housewarming party we had last night' I conceded.

Effy laughed lightly, walking over to the table and sitting down, looking at her watch and glancing back up at me. 'You do know the others will be here soon'

'Uh-huh'

'It's going to be a lot of meeting people and rehearsals and stuff today. Are you up for it?' Effy questioned, her eyes glinting with amusement, obviously already knowing I wasn't.

'I'm used to feeling like this and having to go to work in a kitchen when even the thought of food makes me want to heave' I laughed, 'I think three minutes of singing will be fine'

Effy nodded, smirking.

'What?' I questioned, suddenly getting the feeling she knows something I don't.

'What?' she retorted, her face still pulled into a smirk. I narrowed my eyes as she looked on, still with an amused expression. 'It's just that you're mistaken in thinking today will be three minutes of singing. You'll be lucky if you leave the studio by midnight I reckon' she laughed quietly as my face fell at this realisation 'But at least you're up and have some coffee in you already, gives you a head start on the others…'

'I know, I did try to get them up but…' I looked over to the heap of Mandy in the corner and back to Effy with a grimace 'it got pretty out of hand last night'

'Well, maybe we should try again. I'll go and try and wake them and you make some coffee, okay?'

I nodded and stood up, picking my way through the beer cans and filling the kettle with water and setting it to boil before grabbing a roll of bin liners from a cupboard and starting to fill it with last night's party debris, wondering how I'd make it through today.

* * *

We were all up and sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee by the time the other judges started arriving, none of them commenting on the pile of bulging bin liners piled at the back of the kitchen, the only remaining evidence of anything having gone on in the house the previous night being the rough and dishevelled appearances of the contestants. I had taken up my usual perch on the kitchen counter and was having trouble peeling an orange, unable to find a starting position to get me going when a hand reached over and took it from my grip. I lifted my head up immediately to protest, my gaze falling into the amused blue pools of Naomi, who flicked her eyes down and started peeling the orange before passing it back smugly.

'I nearly had it you know' I said defensively.

'Sure. They're tricky, pesky oranges' She said jokingly, moving to stand next to me, leaning on the counter I was sitting on. 'So, how was your first night in the house' she asked, moving the subject on.

'Yeah, it was good' I said, concentrating on finishing peeling the orange, not wanting to mention the fact that we'd all got totally wasted the night before our first proper day of rehearsals.

'And how's the hangover?'

My eyes widened and I stopped peeling the orange, looking down at her as she looked up at me from where she stood.

'Err, what?'

Her eyebrows soared high on her forehead and she crossed her arms over her chest, pushing herself off the counter and standing in front of me, her face incredulous. I looked at her, failing miserably at hiding the panic that was surging through my body, averting my eyes from hers and looking around the room for a forgotten beer can, or a stray shot glass, anything that may have given us away. There was nothing, and I felt my brow furrow as I looked over to meet her still disbelieving gaze, her eyes twinkling in amusement at something. The silence remained between us, the sounds of other people's conversations the only noise.

'You don't remember…?'

My whole body tensed as I maintained my eye contact with her, only breaking it when I felt a drop on my leg, looking down to see that I'd inadvertently squeezed the orange I was holding and the juice was now dripping onto my grey sweatpants.

'Shit' I murmured, dropping the orange onto the side and rubbing my hands onto my legs to dry up the juice that had trickled down my hands unnoticed, figuring I'd need to change before leaving the house anyway. I looked back up apprehensively to find Naomi still looking at me with a grin, obviously enjoying the fact that she was making me uncomfortable. I coughed to break the silence before continuing. 'Remember what?' I said, attempting nonchalance.

'The voicemail…?'

My heart dropped and I closed my eyes, opening one and looking at Naomi with my face scrunched up into a mortified grimace. She burst out laughing and leant back against the counter next to me while I looked down at her from my seat on the counter, my head racing as to what I could have said in my ridiculous inebriated state. She soon put me out of my misery.

'You rang me at, like, stupid o'clock, and you and some others were singing down the phone. It was really funny, I'm not sure what song you were trying to sing…maybe you should listen to it and enlighten me' she said, grinning devilishly as she went to her coat pocket, obviously to locate her phone.

'NO' I shouted, prompting everyone in the room to stop talking to turn and look at me curiously, waiting for me to explain my outburst whilst Naomi stood laughing quietly. I gulped and jumped down from the counter, neutralising my features and carrying on in a less frantic tone. 'No, I don't want to do that Naomi, that is totally inappropriate' I said, sauntering out of the room and turning as I reached the kitchen door, ensuring I was out of sight to everyone but Naomi before giving her the finger, laughing loudly at her shell-shocked expression as I turned and made for the stairs to change.

* * *

I was doubled over, gripping my sides in agony at the ache that had started due to my uncontrollable laughter. I waited for it to cease, looking up at Naomi's unimpressed face and starting all over again.

'I'm sorry' I spluttered 'but it is hilarious'

'Yeah, side splitting' she retorted, totally deadpan as she kept her eyes looking forward, lifting her cigarette and taking a drag before exhaling it slowly solely through her nostrils.

'Quick thinking on your part' I said, throwing my head back and launching into another wave of laughter.

'Fuck off'

'I only asked for a bit of her orange' I mimicked, chuckling again.

Naomi looked over and a smile pulled at the corner of her lips before she turned around again and lifted her cigarette back up, stopping just before she placed the cigarette between her lips, her face reluctantly unimpressed again.

'You're a knob head'

* * *

Effy had been right earlier, the day dragged on into the small hours of the next morning, and I was seriously sleepy as I sat in one of the audience chairs as Doug took his turn at going through his performance whilst Effy shouted out pointers from the judges table. Naomi was sitting with Laura and Mandy discussing, and probably arguing about, their song choices for the millionth time. JJ and Cook were sitting and chatting to their groups in different corners at the back of the room. I leant back into the chair and shut my eyes, tired from the exertion, length and boringness of the day, especially considering my sleep deprivation from the previous night's adventures. My mind was running through the performance pointers Naomi had suggested following my agonising turn at centre stage.

'It's not all glitz and glam in reality, is it?' someone said quietly beside me, and I could hear the smile in it, although I didn't recognise the voice. I opened my eyes lazily to see a face I recognised, it was the make-up artist we'd been introduced to earlier in the day, Liz.

'Not yet' I replied, smiling slightly and shifting in my seat so I was sitting more upright in an effort to stay awake. Liz came and took the seat next to me and we watched Doug and Effy on the stage for a while in silence, both laughing when Doug started to dance manically as Effy looked on bemused. I glanced over at Liz whilst her attention was forward and took in her appearance. She had sandy blonde hair pulled into a messy bun and hazel eyes, above which sat an eyebrow piercing. She was dressed all in black with the UK Idol motif stitched onto the upper left of the black long sleeved scoop necked t-shirt she was wearing, the sleeves pushed up to reveal random make up smudges on her wrists and forearms, obviously from where she'd been testing out colours. I looked back towards the front of the room and yawned before turning back to Liz with a curious expression as a thought suddenly occurred to me.

'How come you're still here…surely no-one needs their make-up done still?'

'You're right, but Anthea makes us all stay in case. The makeup team, the hair team, wardrobe. They all have to stay until you guys finish up. Just because they film everything around here, you know, for the website and the show, obviously. So we are here as a precaution' she explained, holding my eye contact as I nodded along to show I understood this reasoning.

'Must be pretty boring' I commented offhandedly.

She smiled then. 'I don't know, you meet some interesting people working on this show', nudging slightly closer to me in her chair as I looked on with barely masked amusement, deciding whether or not I could be bothered to go to the effort of reciprocating the flirting.

'Oh yeah? Like who' I answered, feeling my eyebrow raise in challenge. That'd be a yes then.

She laughed lightly and shrugged, letting her eyes wander around the room for a moment as I looked on expectantly, turning my head at the sound of Cooks voice echoing around the room as he started singing a Kings of Leon tune, locking my eyes on his dancing form and feeling them soar at the fact that the guy had moves.

'Like Cook' Liz said, having turned to look at him too, her face pulled into a smirk.

'He certainly is something' I said, still watching him, smiling at the nervous look on Freddie's face, knowing that he wouldn't relish the idea of having to get on a stage and do that. I averted my gaze and went to turn back around in my seat to face forward again before noticing that Liz had been blatantly checking me out whilst I was spun around in my seat. I raised my eyebrow again. 'I take it back, you definitely don't look bored'

She smiled widely, totally unfazed at being caught and I smiled too, settling into my seat and furrowing my brow at the feeling that someone was looking at me. I glanced around the large room, figuring it could just be the fact that there were cameramen milling about, before I caught the eyes of Naomi, looking dead at me, her gaze steely. I held her eye contact and watched as she waved away Mandy and Laura before standing up and walking in our direction. I flicked my gaze over to Liz who was looking at her too, obviously wondering what had taken my attention away from her, noticing her roll her eyes at the approaching Naomi.

'Emily, we need to talk about wardrobe for Saturday' Naomi said, her voice cold.

'Okay' I said, going to get up.

'You've been summoned, better hop to it' Liz said, the words aimed at me despite the fact she was looking at Naomi with a smirk when she said them.

'Yeah, well, she is actually needed around here' Naomi said bitchily.

Liz snorted loudly 'I've seen you without makeup, remember'

Naomi flared her nostrils at this, narrowing her eyes at Liz as I watched on, confused at the obviously sour relationship the women had. Naomi looked at me, slight concern in her features. 'Come on Ems, let's leave her to it. She's obviously very busy' I felt my face smile at the shortening of my name, shaking my head a bit before nodding at Liz in a goodbye gesture.

'What was that?' I asked curiously as soon as we were out of earshot.

'I fucking hate her'

'Really? You two really seemed pretty chummy' I said, sarcasm lacing my words.

Naomi ignored me. 'She's horrible, seriously. She is such a sleaze. She hits on everyone, and has nearly jeopardised the show because people don't want to work with her once they realise what a slut she is'

I almost flinched at the harshness of her words. 'Why doesn't Anthea fire her then?'

'Because at the end of the day she doesn't have grounds to do so. No one has ever gone to Anthea with their concerns because that would mean admitting to having a relationship with someone on the show, and Anthea is so dead set against that. So the contestants come to us, because we are their mentors, and we have to talk to her. Hence why me, Eff and the boys don't get on with her so well.'

I chewed my bottom lip, nodding slightly in agreement before looking over to where Liz was still sitting. She was looking over and winked at me when she saw me turn around. I rolled my eyes and spun back to face Naomi.

'You should set her up' I said, deep in thought as Naomi eyed me curiously. 'You know, get someone to lure her into something then get Anthea to bust in. Bob's your uncle'

'Yeah, but who would do that when it would mean they'd get in trouble as well'

_Ah. _'Good point. Unless it was someone Anthea would never fire…' I said, raising my eyebrows and looking over towards the stage at Effy who was now chatting to all three of her acts on stage as they listened intently. Naomi followed my gaze and turned back, her eyes wide and an incredulous smile on her features.

'Never gunna happen' Naomi laughed 'Nice thought though. I reckon we should just wait until she gets caught herself, it'll happen at some point.' Naomi shrugged.

'Okay then, I'll cease work on Operation Get Liz Fired for now' I joked. 'You wanted to talk to me about wardrobe?' Naomi blushed slightly at my words, looking down to the ground and mumbling something. 'What?'

'I didn't need to talk to you about wardrobe…I just wanted to get you away from that' She said venomously, gesturing with her head in the direction of Liz.

'Oh. Well thanks. You know, for the heads up' I said, smiling at the colour that was still clouding over her cheeks.

* * *

The week passed by in a haze of rehearsals, promotional photo shoots and random press interviews. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted but buzzing about the upcoming show as we sat in the actual studio we would be performing in tonight, a different one from the smaller version we'd been rehearsing in this week. This studio was twice the size with hundreds of seats facing the expansive stage. The stage stretched along the entire wall at the front of the room with two staircases either side that led up to another even higher level. The middle section sat with a backdrop which slid open in the middle and that also doubled as a giant television screen. Just in front of the stage was a four-seater table for the judges, around which wrapped an extension of the stage, meaning we could walk past and stand behind the judges on the extra platform and be nearly in the crowd. Strobe lighting was currently dancing all over the massive room, differentiating every so often as Thomas stood and fiddled with switches, obviously testing the equipment before the show started. Random people were running all over the place, some setting up cameras, others vacuuming the stairwells, one guy arranging the judges table. The whole place was a flurry of activity.

'This is insane' Freddie mused as he glanced around the room before turning back to me with a massive grin. 'I am so nervous but so excited' He rushed out and I pushed him lightly on the arm.

'You're such a geek' I said, unable to stop myself from smiling at the child-like excitement on his face.

'Who are you calling a geek?' My eyes widened and I spun around to see Katie sauntering onto the stage as if she owned the place, a smile on her face.

'Katie, what the fuck' I squealed, running over and pulling her into an almighty Fitch hug as Katie huffed out a breath at the impact. 'How'd you get in here?'

'Effy gave me one of these' She said, holding out the VIP pass she had hanging on a chain around her neck. 'I sent her a text asking if she could get me a seat and she mailed me one' She explained when she saw my curious expression. 'Anyway, forget that, how are you, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, except for in magazines and newspapers' She gushed, composing herself as Freddie sauntered over.

'Hey you' Freddie said, pulling Katie into a hug. I looked away as they started chatting and spotted Effy and Naomi across the room, looking in our direction and whispering, both stopping and looking pointedly in different directions as they saw me look over. I furrowed my brow and turned back around, wondering what they'd have been talking about. I thought for a second, realising I hadn't really spent much time with Naomi this week besides the obvious show related stuff. It seemed that I was trusted to just get on with it, all the drama seeming to centre on Mandy and Laura who had been a media dream with all the incidents they found themselves in. They'd certainly been keeping Naomi busy. I was about to go and talk to her when Katie launched into a tirade of questions wanting to know everything about our stay in London so far.

* * *

I knocked on the door quietly at first, then after getting no answer I pummelled on it loudly.

'Fuck sake, wha-' Naomi stopped as she ripped open the door to reveal me standing behind it, a wide smile on my face 'Sorry, I thought you were one of the others. They seriously haven't stopped bothering me all day. I'm in hiding' she let go of the door and walked into her dressing room and I followed, shutting the door behind me. The room was huge with a separate bathroom and wardrobe area. One corner was devoted to make up and hair with a mirror and counter filled with product. There was a seating area with a television, a stereo sitting in one corner and a large table set up along one wall with a full drinks fridge stood on it, next to which sat various foodstuffs.

'Who, Mandy and Laura..?'

'Yeah. I know I'm their mentor, and I help them in every way I can, but seriously they ask stupid questions. Mandy asked me whether she could hand pick her own dancers the other day.'

I snorted 'What did you say?'

'Something along of the lines of - No, because you're not Madonna' She looked up at me and pulled her face into a guilty grimace before lumping down into one of the rooms sofas. 'Which probably wasn't the best move. I think I should start being nicer to them, but they make it difficult for me on purpose, I'm sure.'

I chuckled at this and nodded, leaning back against the door. 'They don't do it on purpose, I think they try and impress you. They hated you at first, don't get me wrong, but I think you've won them over'

Naomi raised both her eyebrows in surprise at this before lowering them suddenly. 'They hated me?'

'You were really horrible to them in their auditions, remember?'

'I wouldn't say horrible…more like I was constructively critical of their performances' she reasoned, looking at me before we both burst out laughing. 'So, what dumb ass question have you ventured over here to ask me then?'

'Oh, um, I didn't'

Naomi raised one eyebrow at this as confusion flooded her features. She leant forward, possibly subconsciously, as she spoke again. 'Okay…'

'Just thought I'd pop in before the show starts' I said, shrugging as I did so and walking over to join her on the sofa. 'You weren't busy were you?'

She didn't answer straight away, just looked at me before blinking 'Uh, no. I was about to go and raid that fridge' she said, pointing to the table where the fridge was sitting before getting up and walking over to it and pulling it open. I watched her from where I sat, shamelessly checking her out.

'They've stuck a bit of everything in here. You drink Corona, right?' She said with her back to me. I cocked my head to the side, realising she must have taken notice of my drink the night in the bar. I hadn't even noticed her look over, my attention fully on Cook as I remember. I smiled and nodded. Naomi turned around and caught me nodding. 'You know, nodding only works if the person is looking at you'

'Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, Corona is good.' I said, blushing a bit.

I heard her chuckle and the tops being clipped off two bottles. She handed me one, and I took a sip before placing it down onto the coffee table. 'So, what were you and Effy talking about earlier' I said confidently. Naomi choked a bit on the beer she was drinking, taking the bottle away from her lips and holding in in her lap, concentrating her gaze on it and picking at the label.

'When?'

'When Katie walked in'

'Oh then' Naomi said as I rolled my eyes 'we were just saying that, um, well, Effy was saying that she liked your blazer'

I raised my eyebrow at this and laughed loudly. 'It is a nice blazer' I commented, picking my beer up off the table and drinking from it.

'It's alright.' she paused, seeming to think for a second before continuing 'I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't been wearing it'

It was my turn to choke on my beer, taken aback by the sudden compliment from Naomi Campbell, the woman with the reputation of being a cold hearted cow. Naomi seemed to enjoy my reaction as she smiled and sipped her own beer. I felt this may have been some kind of payback for my trick in the kitchen earlier in the week. She looked at me then, seemingly searching my eyes for something as her unwavering gaze bored into my own brown eyes for a while. Suddenly the door behind us opened and Effy came in, looking between our faces on the couch and smirking.

'Am I interrup-' she started, a question obviously triggered by our surprised faces.

'No, not at all' Naomi intercepted, looking at Effy pointedly, silently communicating with her eyes. The brunette must have caught on as she continued moving into the room, smirk still in place but any signs of further questioning unapparent.

'I was just going actually, got to get ready for tonight…and stuff' I hopped up, placing my beer back on the table 'thanks for the beer. I suppose I'll see you later'

'Yeah, for sure' Naomi replied, looking almost regretful as I made for the door, a point I pondered as I scooted past Effy with a parting nod.

* * *

'And next to perform, from the girls category….EMILY FITCH'

I breathed out quickly at the sound of Pandora excitably announcing my name, walking forward through the sliding centre stages doors, coming onto the stage through a mist of smoke and smiling in what I hoped was a smile of confidence. I approached the microphone and grabbed the black guitar off its nearby stand, lifting myself onto the stool that had been placed centre stage for me. I sat and waited for the music to start, the deafening cheers of the crowd lifting some of my nerves slightly. I had been dressed in charcoal skinny jeans, heels and a black top with smoky makeup, my hair cascading around my shoulders freely. The music started and I began playing the guitar in time to it.

Wondering the streets, in a world underneath it all  
Nothing seems to be, nothing tastes as sweet  
As what I can't have  
Like you and the way that you're twisting your hair  
round your finger  
Tonight I'm not afraid to tell you  
What I feel about you.

I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
and cannon ball into the water  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will  
For you I will

Forgive me if I st-stutter  
From all of the clutter in my head  
Cos I could fall asleep in those eyes  
Like a water bed  
Do I seem familiar, I've crossed you in hallways  
a thousand times, no more camouflage  
I want to be exposed, and not be afraid to fall.

I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
And cannon ball into the water  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will  
You always want what you can't have  
But I've got to try  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will  
For you I will  
For you I will  
For you

If I could dim the lights in the mall  
And create a mood I would  
Shout out your name so it echoes in every room  
I would

That's what I'd do,  
That's what I'd do  
That's what I'd do  
To get through to you

I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
And cannon ball into the water  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will  
You always want what you can't have  
But I've got to try  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will  
For you I will  
For you I will

I stopped singing and the room exploded, a feeling of exhilaration coursing through my veins immediately, my heart pounding and my face inexplicably wearing a huge grin as I looked around the crowd, spotting Katie jumping around wildly. I acknowledged her with a nod and turned to Pandora as she came racing onto the stage to greet me, hugging me tightly and looking towards the judges, requesting feedback.

'That was amazing, it was full of emotion. Totally mind-blowing' JJ shouted over the roar of the crowd.

'Great job, you really connect with your audience when you sing. And yeah, totally emotive.' Effy said, not bothering to raise her voice to compete with the audiences noise.

'That was awesome, what a way to kick off the first of many live shows you'll be a part of. You look great as well' Cook commented, waggling his eyebrows slightly as he said so.

'All I can say is that I'm lucky to have you in my category. I'm sure we'll definitely be seeing a **lot** more of you in the coming weeks' Naomi concluded, winking at me.

I left the stage feeling shaky, and it had nothing to do with the fact I'd just performed live in front of ten million people.

**A/N - Thanks for your reviews/alerts etc. Really appreciate all your thoughts/suggestions! I didn't realise how long this had got, I just kept adding to it and it ended up being super long. My bad. Hope you like it. The song is Teddy Geiger - For You I Will...**


	14. 14

**-Naomi-**

I felt my heart flutter nervously as we all stood on the stage, huddled with our categories as Pandora stood on the far side of the stage. I looked over at my three girls and smiled reassuringly. They'd all done a brilliant job tonight and shouldn't have a problem getting through, particularly thanks to one of JJ's groups totally fucking up with one of the guys forgetting his lyrics. I breathed out and suddenly felt a hand in mine, gripping tightly.

'You're more nervous than us' Emily whispered, looking at me with amused eyes.

'I know, I hate this bit'

She laughed huskily and moved to mesh her fingers with mine. I looked back around to Pandora as she started to speak.

'So, after twelve amazing performances it has come to that time of the night where one of them has to go. I will read out the names of those who have made it through, and I must stress that they are read out in no particular order.'

I sighed at the long drawn out way in which Anthea insisted this was done, simply because the tension in the room was unbelievable. I felt Emily squeeze my hand and I squeezed hers back reassuringly, enjoying the feeling of our hands interlaced together.

'The first act through to next weeks show is…'

I heard Emily's breath hitch and noticed I'd inexplicably been holding my own.

'Freddie!'

The crowd blew up and Emily didn't let go of my hand as she jumped around manically as Freddie did the same, my arm being yanked around as Freddie hugged a whooping Cook. He shot Emily a smile before running off the stage.

'The second act through is…Harriet'

Again, the crowd cheered as we all looked over to where Harriet had burst into tears before walking off the stage. I looked at Mandy and Laura who were standing nervously watching her go, probably wishing it was them. Emily was smiling widely, simply pleased for Harriet. I smiled at her, my heart warming at her attitude towards the competition and the fact she wanted everyone to do well.

'The third act who will get to perform next week is…Laura!'

The four of us cheered wildly, Laura punching the air as she walked off the stage, waving to the crowd as she went. I took my place between my two acts and slung my arms around their shoulders.

'You'll get through girls, don't worry' I said positively.

'The fourth act through is…Nathan!'

The crowd, particularly the girls, went wild as Nathan high-fived Cook and ran off the stage, playing up to his crowd by blowing kisses into the crowd. I looked over at JJ who hadn't had an act put through yet and gave him a friendly smile, his dejected face making me feel sorry for him. No-one ever wanted the group category.

'The fifth act going through to the live shows next week…is…'

I furrowed my brow, the dragging out of this process beginning to grate on me with my frayed nerves. The silence dragged, not a noise to be heard from anyone in the crowd. Pandora smiled.

'Emily!'

I felt myself exhale loudly as Emily looked over at Panda with surprise in her eyes before looking at me with the same expression. The crowd had erupted into frenzied applause.

'That's you' I whispered, pulling her into a tight hug before pushing her in the direction she had to go to leave the stage. She walked off, waving into the crowd with a bemused expression. I smiled after her before turning back to Mandy, who looked upset at the fact she was still standing on the stage.

'Don't worry, there are still six places left'

* * *

'Fucking hell. Thank god that's over' JJ said from the sofa he was sitting on in my dressing room, his head in his hands.

'It coulda been worse kidda' Cook said, ransacking my fridge for beer.

'I lost one of my acts Cook, how could it have been worse?'

'You coulda lost two of your acts?' Cook laughed, reappearing from where his head was in the fridge with an armful of beer bottles.

'Leave him Cook, tonight wasn't exactly his night' Effy said, looking at her hands with boredom etching her features.

'Why did I get the groups? They never do well.'

'Someone had to have them' I reasoned.

'You can say that, you got the girls category' I smiled smugly at JJ's words, winding him up as he stuck his head back in his hands before muttering a muffled 'Fuck sake'

I laughed before standing up and patting him on the back, grabbing a beer from Cook before heading for the door.

'Where are you going?' Effy questioned, eying me suspiciously.

'To talk to my acts…'

'Your acts who you just spoke to ten minutes ago? Don't you just mean Emily' she said smirking, earning herself a chuckle from Cook who slumped into the sofa next to her and slung his arm around her shoulder, grinning at me as he did so.

'Got a thing for red have you Naomikins?'

'No' I stated, feeling my cheeks flame, annoyed that Effy had made a point of getting the boys in on it. 'Shut up Eff'

'Wahey' Cook yelled, laughing wildly. 'Nice one blondie, you could do a lot worse than Emilio'

My cheeks were burning by this point and I shot Effy a look that said we'd be having words about this later. She just looked at me.

'He's right you know'

'Shut up. I don't know what you're all going on about'

'I've seen you two together. The only thing stopping you in Anthea, and in case you didn't know, I have quite a lot of influence there' Effy stated, sipping on her beer as she said so, not breaking her eye contact with me. I turned to walk out the door, annoyed at the pressure she was putting onto me. 'Naomi' she shouted as I reached the door. I turned and faced her again. 'Be brave' I furrowed my brow at her words and ripped the door open, storming out of it.

* * *

I wandered up the corridor and turned the corner, leaning against the wall and sighing. I knew I should do something about it, I knew Effy was right, even though it wasn't just Anthea that stood in the way. I wondered whether I had the guts. I let my mind wander to the conversations i'd shared with Emily, the conversations that always had a flirty undertone. The fact that I couldn't stand it when she was all other that girl in Tonic, that I'd made a point of making sure Emily didn't do it again under the pretence of being a good mentor, when in fact it was mainly for selfish reasons.

'Boo'

I jumped at the interruption, turning to face the person who I had just been thinking about. She was chuckling lightly at my reaction.

'You okay?'

'Err, yeah' I answered. She nodded and came and stood next to me, leaning on the wall. We stood in silence as she took my beer from my hand and drank from it, smiling at me cheekily as she passed it back.

'What are you thinking about?' she asked me, ever forward.

'You' I answered honestly, not looking at her as I said it, Effy's words reverberating through my brain.

'Me?' she questioned, moving to stand in front of me, her head cocked to the side, her eyes bright and curious.

'Yup. You'

She took a step forward at my words so she was exceptionally close to me, her breath sending my skin into goose bumps. 'What about me?' she questioned, her voice husky. I gulped at the closeness, the intimacy of the question that I felt against my skin.

'I dunno really' I answered, inwardly cringing at the lame response. 'About how, in different circumstances, things between us would probably be…different'

'How so?' she pressed, taking another baby step in my direction, her eyes burning an impression on my brain as it made a memory of the way she was looking at me. I didn't reply, unsure of how to word what I wanted to say. It remained silent between us, her still standing inches away from me. She raised her eyebrow at me, obviously curious as to why I hadn't answered her question. I shut my eyes momentarily, just to allow myself time to articulate a sentence. As soon as I did so I felt her close the space between us and kiss me, her lips soft, her taste addictive. I kissed back, instinctively feeling my hands, along with the beer bottle, interlace around the small of her back. I felt her flinch at the cold bottle hitting the bare skin of her back where her top had hitched as she'd tiptoed to reach my lips and I felt myself smile into the kiss, manoeuvring myself around, spinning her with me so her back was now against the wall. Her hands found my neck and she tangled her fingers into my hair, her tongue brushing against my lower lip as she did so. I forgot the fact we were standing in the hallway at the very worst place in the world we should have been doing this as our mouths worked together, lost in the kiss. I felt her moan as our tongues met and I couldn't help but smile again, just at the fact that she obviously was feeling the same about me as I was about her.

'What the fuck is going on here then'

We broke apart at the voice that had interrupted us, both of our faces guilt stricken as we looked at the person who'd caught us._ Shit. _

_

* * *

_

_A/N - Short chapter, trying to move it on a bit. Need to figure out how to pace this, particularly how to make the actual show bits better and stuff...it's proving to be pretty difficult. I'll figure it out before I post in future :)_


	15. Aftermath

-Emily-

I looked over at the owner of the voice, flustered. Naomi unwound her hands from behind my back as I did the same from her neck. She stepped back, the look of guilt on her face changing to worried then to a look of annoyance in quick succession. I looked down at the ground before pushing myself off the wall and going to stand next to her, my legs feeling a bit unsteady. I raised my glance up to Naomi then who seemed to be involved in some kind of staring contest with Effy, our intruder. She looked down at me, her look unreadable, and I immediately felt uncertain. I looked over at Effy in order to shake off the feeling that her look was one of regret. Effy was still looking at Naomi, and the sound of silence was almost deafening.

Effy broke it, her laughter light. Naomi just rolled her eyes at her. I wondered why no one was saying anything. What exactly was going on here? Naomi stepped forward as the thought ran through my mind, going over to Effy.

'Emily, I'll come find you later, yeah?' she said over her shoulder, not turning round as she grabbed Effy by the wrist and pulled her in the direction of her dressing room leaving me standing dumbfounded in the hall. I felt my brow furrow, anger sweeping through me at my dismissal. They disappeared around a corner and I took up my previous position against the wall, this time without Naomi pinning me to it. I gulped, feeling unsure of myself for the first time in a while, hating the feeling. I pulled myself together, shaking my head of the thoughts racing through it and slid my iPhone out of my pocket, choosing a contact and pressing it to my ear.

* * *

'You did WHAT?' Katie said, her mouth hanging open. I repressed the urge to roll my eyes at her dramatic reaction to everything. I looked at her evenly, watching her as she processed the information I'd just told her. Her eyes were wide and she pulled her face into a grin. 'That is…good, though, right?'

'Not particularly Katie. This situation is too complicated. Imagine what the other contestants will say if they find out about this' I threw my head into my hands and sighed. I heard Katie chuckle, causing me to look up in disbelief.

'It's only as complicated as you make it Emily'

I looked at her, my face still clouded with my earlier disbelief. How can she say that? There are so many factors involved; this is about more than Naomi and I. I didn't get a chance to vocalize this because Freddie and JJ walked in companionably.

'Hey Ems' Freddie said, slumping down to Katie on the sofa next to her. We were sitting in one of the waiting rooms of the UK Idol studios, a room full of sofas with television screens dotted around for us to watch the show on while we waited to perform. It was empty now, the staff were busy packing up the shows and the contestants were with the unlucky group who'd been kicked off the show tonight.

'Hey Fred' I said, smiling slightly in greeting. I watched as he slung his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek as she grinned at him. I silently wished it could be as easy as that for me and Naomi. 'Hey JJ'

'Hi Emily' he said shyly, going over to an empty sofa rather than sitting next to me. 'I'm really pleased for you'

I snapped my head around to look at Katie, who was still wrapped up in Freddie, before turning back around to JJ. 'What?'

He looked at me with a confused expression. 'For getting through tonight'

Oh, that. 'Yeah, thanks JJ. It's a shame about your group…' I replied, giving him a sympathetic look.

'Someone had to go. Plus, they did fluff it. So, I suppose they deserved to go' He shrugged, obviously having accepted the situation as he hadn't seemed so blasé about it earlier when he'd walked off the stage following the eviction of the losers.

'Yeah' I said, retreating back into my own thoughts. My mind wandered back to kissing Naomi. It made me wonder how long she'd wanted to kiss me for, which led me back to the point that she hadn't actually acted on it, and I suddenly felt that I shouldn't have either. I hadn't realized I'd let out a growl of annoyance until I felt all the eyes in the room turn to me.

'What's up Ems?' Freddie asked, looking at me with concern.

'Nothing, it's just, erm, horrible, you know, that someone has to leave every week'

Katie smirked at my excuse and I saw the amusement dancing in her eyes. I stood up and said a quick goodbye to everyone in the room. I just wanted to get back to the house.

I'd made my way straight towards the front of the building, needing the fresh air to help me clear my head. As soon as I rounded the corner towards the large glass front of the building I realized that I'd made a mistake in picking the front of the building, totally forgetting the fact that there were dozens of paparazzi gathered outside waiting for us to leave. I walked backwards towards the corridor that I'd just come from, careful not to be spotted. Luckily their attention was currently on one of the choreographers, obviously having been sent out by Anthea to appease the mob. I wandered back up the corridor wondering where I could go when my mobile rang suddenly in my pocket making me jump. I looked around sheepishly to see whether I'd gotten away with it, and slid my phone out of my pocket. An unknown number flickered on the screen and I furrowed my brow, unsure of whether to answer it. We'd been warned about this by Anthea, people giving our numbers out to the press or to crazy fans. I mulled it over, making my decision based on the fact that the curiosity would probably kill me if I didn't find out who it was.

'Hello…?'

'Hey' a pause 'it's Effy'

'Oh. Hi' I felt a bit annoyed at her about earlier. She seemed to sense my annoyance because she chuckled quietly.

'Where are you?' she didn't wait for me to answer 'actually, scrap that. Come to my dressing room. I need to talk to you'

I cringed a bit, nervous about what she might have to say. I regretted answering the call. Damn my curiosity.

'Err. Sure. I shouldn't be long'

'Good, see you in a bit then'

I retracted my phone from my ear and just stared at it. I took a deep calming breath and made my way towards Effy Stonem's dressing room.

* * *

I knocked on the door, three raps in quick succession.

'It's open'

I opened the door and walked in, taking in the room as I did so. It was as impressive as Naomi's, maybe a bit smaller. Again, it was full of seating, one corner dedicated to hair and make-up, a few doors leading off into bathrooms and closets. I smiled at Effy in greeting and she simply inclined her head, indicating for me to take a seat on the sofa opposite her. I gulped quietly, walking over with my head hanging a little bit. I looked up as I sat down, internally telling myself to remain confident. I returned her fierce eye contact, never faltering. The room stayed quiet and I figured I'd wait for her to break the silence.

'You okay?'

I furrowed my brow a bit at the question, unsure of how to answer it.

'I'm fine…' I trailed off, still holding her eyes. She nodded.

'Well, obviously I'm going to talk to you about Nai, so first off, I need you to tell me what your intentions are'

I held her eyes for a second longer and then doubled into a spontaneous laughter, looking up after a moment and catching the amused tint to Effy's gaze.

'I'm sor…sorry' I spluttered, her parental stance and tone having tickled me. I sat up straighter and tried to neutralize my face, eventually managing it after relapsing into laughter a few more times. 'Okay. My intentions…' I repeated, the weight of the question finally impacting me. 'Err. Well, I don't really know…I mean…I like her, but the situation is kind of…not ideal'

Effy was still looking into my eyes. I felt a bit creeped out by the intensity of her stare but held it anyway. It seemed that Effy was just trying to protect Naomi, and I respected her for that. I wanted her to know that I was sincere. She didn't answer for a while. Eventually she piped up.

'You're right there. That didn't stop you though, did it?' Her tone wasn't accusatory, just amused as she relaxed into the sofa. I cocked my eyebrow, feeling my confidence seep back with the slight change in atmosphere, and shrugged. She laughed and stood up.

'Okay. Well, I'm going to go and smoke' she announced, moving towards the door.

'Wha-what? Is that it?' I asked, confused.

'Yeah'

'But I didn't…we hardly…'

Effy cut me off 'You've told me everything I need to know' and with that she left the room, leaving me puzzling over what I'd revealed to the all-seeing Effy Stonem in the few sentences we'd exchanged.

* * *

We finally left the studios at a ridiculous hour following some kind of Anthea style de-briefing, basically telling us we'd all been fantastic, with a few pointers being given to the various cameramen and lighting technicians scattered around the boardroom. I listened on feeling bored and curious about the reason that every single other person was here apart from Naomi. I shook my head, cursing myself at being so stupid earlier. I had stewed over it all day and decided to apologise to her tomorrow for making her uncomfortable. I replayed my sort-of conversation with Effy back through my head, wondering whether she had good or bad things to report back to Naomi, which was obviously what she was going to do. I had sat silently in the car ride back to the house and went straight up to my bedroom when i got there, sinking into the bed immediately and shutting my eyes. Before long there was a tap at my door and I opened one eye, mumbling incoherently about being awake. I let my head fall back into the pillows as Mandy walked in, a huge grin on her face.

'How crazy was today?' She exclaimed, leaping onto the bed next to me as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

'Yeah, pretty crazy' I concurred, coughing afterwards to shake the sleepiness from my already husky voice.

'We're all having fun downstairs if you want to join?'

I grimaced a bit and shook my head. 'Nah, I think i'll sit tonight out. I'm exhausted. Maybe next time'

With that she got up begrudgingly and left. Throughout the night I was repeatedly woken up by loud noises, music, smashing glasses and drunk people knocking on my door telling me I was missing out. The next morning I was the first one up, and I shook my head at the mess I walked in on. I tidied up the kitchen, figuring I didn't really want to sit surrounded by beer bottles and took up my regular seat on the corner counter as I sat waiting for the kettle to boil. I glanced over at the wall clock and groaned. No-one should be up at 9am on a Sunday morning, especially not me. I leaned over as the kettle let out a noise telling me the water was boiled and tipped it into a mug whilst I contemplated what to do with my day. Sunday was a free day for us, a chance to get away from rehearsals and each other. I'd already spoken to my mum this morning after she rang me at 8am to tell me that she'd watched the show and that I was 'better than she expected'. I'd rolled my eyes at the biggest compliment I was likely to ever get from my own mother. I'd also gone onto my personal Facebook account to find that thousands of people had requested to be my friend. I'd simply logged out again, not being bothered about sorting it out until later, considering getting Katie to deal with it for me. She'd already texted me letting me know that I had a fan page on Facebook and that I should check it out. I had done, and there were quite a few followers considering we'd only done one show. I hoped it boded well for my future within the competition. i figured there and then that I needed to get my head back in the game. Especially since Naomi had apparently gone AWOL since our tryst in the hallway yesterday. I jumped down from where I was set on the counter and figured I should eat something.

* * *

I was in the process of making scrambled eggs and bacon when I heard the front door go. I furrowed my brow, wondering who'd visit on a Sunday. I kept my feet planted and simply leaned back the upper half of my body, still whisking the eggs while i peered into the halway through the kitchen door. I took an actual step back when I realised it was Naomi, who was now walking towards me sheepishly, a plastic bag hanging from her hand. She looked really good in skinny jeans and a cream mac.

'Hey' she opened with. I set down the bowl and whisk on the counter and shifted myself onto it again, picking up the bowl and whisk again and continuing to whisk as I answered.

'Hey'

Silence settled like dust, the only noise being the sound of the egg mixture I was beating with my whisk.

'So, i'm glad I ran into you. It's actually you I've come to see'

I didn't answer just nodded, my heart pounding a bit faster as I watched as Naomi walked over to the dining table and dropped the plastic bag onto it before opening it and pulling out a newspaper, a trashy Sunday tabloid I'm guilty of purchasing in the past. I stopped whisking and watched as she flicked through the pages. I felt my heart sink as I realised what this probably meant. _Fuck. My. Life. _

'Ah here it is' Naomi said, possibly more to herself than to me. She looked up at me, her cheeks slightly tinged, obviously embarrassed about what she was going to have to tell me had been written. 'Now, you don't need to worry about anything, it's just a little article. Um, but it is a kiss-and-tell - someone worked quickly to get it in the night after the show - although you shouldn't be worried. It isn't bitter, just, like, a bit...um...well, basically, there is some more...intimate...details...in there. So yeah.'

I shut my eyes, holding out my hand as she held out the paper, taking it from her and focusing in on the article, a quick thought running through my head that she was adorable when she was flustered. I sat and read it in silence and I could feel Naomi staring at me, looking directly at my face, probably for some kind of reaction to what had been written. I finished reading it, she was right, it was only a few columns alongside a few pictures of myself and the girl in question, although they didn't even have one of us together. I rolled my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek.

'See...it wasn't bad. She actually said...complimentary...things...' Naomi said, stifling a giggle as she looked at my unimpressed face. 'It's funny...'

'It's not'

'Okay...it's kind of funny' she said slowly cocking her eyebrow at me.

I smiled and shook my head. 'It's actually embarrassing though...my parents will read that' I felt my eyes widen at the realisation. I wondered whether my mum would buy that paper, and guessed she wouldn't, but I had a sinking feeling my dad probably does.

Naomi raised an eyebrow and shot me a sympathetic look before biting her lip in thought. 'Well, it could have been worse then'

I laughed at that.'You're not used to comforting people are you?' I joked. Naomi raised her hands.

'Guilty'

I laughed again and picked up the bowl from the side and carried on whisking. 'You want some?'

Naomi peered into the bowl dubiously. 'I don't know...will it be better than that ravioli?' she questioned, biting her lip again, hiding a smile.

'Fuck off!' I said, jumping down and slapping her arm playfully before moving over to the stove to start cooking the eggs, my mind wondering whether we'd actually talk about what happened yesterday or whether she was planning on ignoring it forever.

**A/N - Sorry, been ages. Blame Uni! **


	16. Song Choices

**I do not own Skins.**

**-Naomi-**

I was wandering out to my car when I heard my Blackberry beep, rolling my eyes that I didn't even get Sundays off without being bothered with this and that. Although this had technically been a work errand, I had wanted to come over to see Emily. I'd hoped we'd talk about what happened yesterday, but I lost my nerve when it came to bringing it up. I'd already given Effy a stern talking to regarding what she had seen only to receive one in return about me needing to 'man up'. I'd laughed at the time, but now it seemed that the woman talked sense. I slid into the driver's seat of my car and pulled the phone out of my pocket, furrowing my brow when I saw it was a text, not an e-mail. Work always e-mailed. I opened it and rolled my eyes.

_How did the manning up go? Eff x_

I grimaced, not wanting to tell her that the manning up plan was not a successful endeavour. I'd been enjoying the morning, chatting with Emily about this and that, feeling comfortable around her and appreciating her wit and sense of humour. She'd taken the news about the article really well, which I was pleased about, although at the same time nervous. It wouldn't give out the best image if these stories kept popping up, and I remembered how nervous Emily had been when this kind of thing was discussed at the beginning of the UK Idol process. I decided to wait to see if any more stories emerged before dealing with it any further. I sighed and ignored the text, discarding my phone onto the passenger seat and setting off.

* * *

'Right, so it's…' I paused, shuffling around a few papers on my desk as the three expectant faces across the workspace looked at me with varying degrees of annoyance at my lack of organisation. I found what I was looking for and raised my eyebrows, looking over the piece and paper and smiling. 'Big band week.' I looked at each person in turn. Mandy looked concerned, as she should be, this wouldn't be an easy week for her. Laura looked mildly confused, obviously unsure of what that entailed. Emily looked thoughtful, her gaze directed out of the office window as she tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth, her brow slightly furrowed. I figured she was trying to think of potential songs and left her to it, realising I may have lingered on her face longer than the others. 'Right, so as we did last week, I want you to go away and think up some choices that you would like to sing, I'll come up with some songs that I think you'd be good at singing then we'll discuss it together, okay?' A chorus of yeses emanated from the girls as they all stood to leave. I nodded and leant back further in my chair as they left and fluttered my eyes closed, mentally scanning through potential songs when I heard my door open again. I opened one eye and scowled at the person who strolled in.

'What?'

'Nice to see you too Campbell' Effy deadpanned, strolling in and taking the seat across from me as I sat up and busied myself with my laptop, scrolling through numerous e-mails. 'Are you never going to talk to me ever again?' I continued to stare at the screen in front of me, ignoring her words. I began to tap back a reply to a particularly important message regarding one of CampbellOne's biggest acts. 'Nai?' I looked up at her then, the pleading tone of her voice pulling me away from what I was doing and directly into the grey hue of her eyes.

'Eff, look, I just need to get this done. We're fine. Everything is fine.'

'So…' she trailed off, maintaining my eye contact. 'You spoke to her then?'

I narrowed my eyes at her, annoyed that even after I'd given her my best bitchiest behaviour since Sunday, and it was now Tuesday morning, she still had the nerve to talk to me about the one subject I was eager to avoid. 'Effy, are you serious?'

Effy let out an uncharacteristically exasperated sigh, stood up and walked to the door. 'Naomi, just talk to her. Please. You'll have to do it eventually, and the sooner the better.'

I watched as she clicked the door shut, squeezing my eyes together as she left. I felt annoyance tug at me; at the fact I knew she was right. She seemed so adamant I felt compelled to do it. I made the decision there and then that next time I saw Emily we'd have a discussion.

* * *

'I've got my song selected!' I heard her before I saw her, her husky voice carrying into my office at the UK Idol house from the kitchen. I spun my chair around from where I'd been absentmindedly staring out of the window to the door just in time to see her stride around the corner with a smile pulling at the sides of her mouth. I gulped and decided to dive in. _Here goes nothing._

'Come in, shut the door' I saw confusion cross her face momentarily at the tone of my voice before she shut the door and walked over, taking a seat in the chair she normally chose when she sat in my office even though it was off to the side and not the most convenient chair choice considering this was a one-on-one situation and I was behind my desk. I didn't question it, and instead held her gaze as I stood up and perched on the edge of the desk. I realised that me standing and her sitting might seem intimidating, so I wandered back around and took my seat again as she watched on with curiosity and what I guessed was slight amusement. 'So, before we discuss your song choice for next Saturday, I need to talk to you about, uhm, last Saturday.'

'Okay' she nodded, and I looked at her for any indication that she knew what I wanted to talk to her about. Her face was placid, but her intense and expressive eyes gave her away. I breathed in once deeply and cleared my throat, buying time. I hadn't figured out what I'd say if I got this far. Luckily, it didn't matter. 'I suppose I should apologise for my behaviour, it was totally unprofessional and out of line.' Emily blurted out, her brown pools sincere as they held my gaze, two lines apparent between her eyebrows as worry flashed through her face. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting from her, and I remained silent as I decided how to handle this. I pulled my mouth to the side and chewed lightly at the inside of my lip as my brain fought to decide on how to respond. The only noise in the room was the background sounds of the house, people talking, singing and the sound of water running where a shower was in use somewhere on the floor above.

'I appreciate that Emily. And in all fairness I have to agree, but obviously it wasn't one sided. I would apologize too. But, well, I would like to just say that, in all honesty, I don't…' her eyebrows raised at this point, although worry was still evident in her features 'well, I don't regret it.' I felt a slight blush creep up my cheeks at the uncharacteristic honesty Emily inspired in me, causing me to look away, returning my gaze back to the window and looking out onto the gravel driveway in order to avoid the intensity of the room.

'I never said I regretted it'

I snapped my head around to settle my gaze once again on the woman who had plagued my thoughts for so long to see her shuffle slightly in her chair as she looked into her own lap, her red hair forming a curtain in front of her face. The sight of the normally straight talking and confident Emily looking so sheepish forced a small smile onto my face and made me feel more comfortable in the situation, aware that I wasn't the only one uncertain of where I stood.

'That's true. I don't know what this means though…where do we go from here Em?'

She looked up in surprise at my sudden straight talking attitude and chuckled slightly, lifting the tension straight out of the room with the melody of her laugh. 'I dunno. Perhaps we should, you know, uhm…' I cocked my eyebrow, curious as to what her solution to our problem would be 'go out some time. Obviously, not telling the others or anything, what with Anthea and everything, but just to get to know each other better and stuff'

I smiled at her slightly flustered rambling and nodded. 'I'd like that, yeah.'

'Okay, well, I'd better go…I was supposed to be meeting Effy for some kind of vocal exercise thingy with the others, about…' she glanced at her phone '…ten minutes ago'

'Okay. Well we'll catch up later then'

'Yeah, for sure' She smiled at me, a smile that reached her eyes and lit up her face as she pushed out of her chair and headed for the door. I watched her go with a similar goofy grin on my face, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, when a thought occurred to me. 'Hang on; what was the song you chose for big band week?'

Emily spun round with her hand still on the handle of the door and smiled cheekily, cocking her eyebrow. 'I've Got You under My Skin' she answered huskily before strolling out of the door without so much as a look back.

**A/N - Again, rubbish at updating. Sorry. This one is quite short but i'll update again as soon as possible :) **


	17. Singing in the Rain

Disclaimer - I don't own Skins or anything else that might be mentioned...

**-Emily-**

'I can't fucking do it!'

I chuckled at Mandy's melodramatic outburst from behind my sheet of lyrics. She had been having trouble singing her song, unable to adapt to the genre of music we had been presented with. Effy was standing with her, patiently trying to help her through it, her ability as a vocal coach obvious. Naomi, on the other hand, seemed to be slowly but surely losing her patience with the girl and her seemingly bad attitude towards the task she had been presented with. They started sniping at each other while Effy tried to keep the peace.

'I'd get annoyed as well, she isn't taking either of their advice…I think they are fighting a losing battle' Freddie commented from next to me, his head also buried in a folder of song lyrics for him to learn.

'Yeah, maybe' I pondered as I looked up at the stage where the trio were standing, enjoying my perspective of the agitated blonde and the fact that she did 'pissed off' quite well.

'You okay?' Freddie asked, causing me to turn and look at his concerned face.

'Yeah Freds, never better' I answered, smiling brightly. I felt guilty for not being able to tell him everything about Naomi and I, and I hoped he wouldn't be annoyed if and when I eventually told him. I'd been floating around on a metaphorical cloud 9 since we'd arranged to go out together, although it was tarnished with the fact that it was a secret. I hadn't even told Katie. 'I am just trying to nail this song, you know'

Freddie narrowed his eyes at me and cocked his head to the side before nodding and turning back to his own lyrics. I grimaced a bit…he didn't seem entirely convinced and I hoped he didn't dig any deeper or, even worse, tell Katie his concerns. I shook this from my head and returned to memorising the lines in front of me.

* * *

'Perfect, you've got it' Naomi grinned at me from where she was perched on the edge of the judges desk. I felt a smile stretch across my face as I looked down at the stage, slightly embarrassed by the praise, before turning my head to look at Effy who was standing stage side. She had a smirk on her face and an eyebrow cocked. I raised both of mine in reaction to the expression on her face, an unspoken question.

'Yeah, very convincing' She stated before making her way onto the stage and over towards Naomi. I bit my lip at her words, torn between being annoyed at her obvious jibe aimed at my relationship with Naomi or being proud that I'd managed to make my performance believable. I didn't get a chance to decide because Anthea strode onto the stage from some unknown location.

'Guys, we've got a problem' she announced loudly causing everyone within the studio to stop what they were doing and turn to look at her. 'The performers we booked for Saturday night can't make it for some bullshit reason meaning we have an empty slot to fill and no one to fill it with. It is Friday now, which is too short notice to book anyone who is worth putting on our show in the primetime slot. To put this situation into layman's terms…we are royally fucked'

Everyone remained silent taking in the information, wondering what this meant for the show. Cook whispered a string of swear words at the back of the room and I smiled at his eloquent way of voicing his concern. I was still stood on the stage, behind Anthea who was standing centrally. I took a few steps sideways in the hope of being less under the spotlight, aware of the fifty or so people in the room staring this way.

'What about the contestants performing a song?'

I looked towards the familiar voice and caught Naomi's eye, pulling a face of disgust at the suggestion. She seemed to find my disdain for her idea funny and shrugged, pulling an innocent expression before turning her attention back to Anthea who seemed deep in thought.

'You know what, that isn't a bad idea Naomi. We don't have much time though. We'd need to get started soon, as in now. These performances have to be something special, particularly because the viewer's thought they were getting a chart topping band. We're really going to have to pull something out of the bag.' Anthea stopped mid-monologue and gazed upwards, seemingly lost in her own head. She still held the attention of everyone in the room, everyone still and silent as they waited in anticipation to see what decision she was going to make and how it was going to affect their lives. 'Right, Effy, Naomi, Cook, JJ…follow me. Now'

I shot Naomi a smug look at her having been summoned and wandered over towards where Laura and Freddie were sitting in the audience.

'This means learning more song lyrics, doesn't it' Freddie stated, running a hand through his tousled hair as he looked down helplessly at the song he was still struggling to learn for tomorrows show.

'Afraid so, Freds, want some help?' I offered, slouching down next to him and picking up the sheet from his lap as he smiled gratefully.

* * *

'So, you guys will be performing as a group tomorrow. It's a big performance, and we know, a big ask, but it has to be done. The song is a mash up of two songs and it is going to be amazing if we can pull it off.' Mandy, Laura and I all looked at Naomi with unsure expressions on our faces as she held the grin she had plastered to her face. 'The songs are Singing in the Rain and Umbrella, so it's a mix of the old and the new. There is choreography involved. The two main singers of the song will be Freddie' I sighed inwardly, knowing that Freddie already had enough on his plate, and also because this only meant one thing, causing me to roll my eyes just as Naomi finished her sentence. 'And Emily'

'What a surprise' Mandy mumbled from her seat next to me and I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of the argument that was to come.

'Sorry you feel that way _Mandy.' _Naomi started, emphasising her name'but at this short notice we figured we'd need to pair a male and female voice who have performed together you two go into the dance studios; the others are already in there learning the choreography.' She waved in the direction they were to go, effectively getting rid of them with a sweep of her hand. She waited for them to leave the room before continuing. 'Sorry about this Em, but you and Freddie have performed together before. And you perform the best under pressure. I hope this isn't too much for you.' She held my eye contact, her earnest expression softening my previous annoyance.

'It's not me I'm worried about; I know both of those songs already so it shouldn't be too difficult to learn the lyrics. I just get concerned about Freddie…he isn't the best for learning lyrics and I don't want this to jeopardize his solo performance.'

'It won't, trust me. We've chosen two songs that he approved himself; he came to us in the middle of our meeting with that concern. So don't worry about him.' She smiled broadly, seemingly pleased with herself. I just nodded in response, a small smile accentuating my features.

'Well, then there's nothing to worry about then.' I started, smiling fully. 'Now all I need to be concerned about is Mandy and her wrath because I got a lead' I added, feigning fright at the prospect. Naomi scrunched up her face slightly and laughed as well before pushing herself out of her chair and heading towards the door, prompting me to hop up and follow her.

'I'll walk you to the dance studios. I don't want to miss your reaction to what Anthea has in store for the production.' She said, waggling her eyebrows and signalling for me to walk out of the door first.

'Fantastic' I said sarcastically, prompting another melodic laugh to leave her lips and again render me unable to be annoyed at the obvious enjoyment she gets from watching me suffer.

* * *

'So we'll be wet?' I heard the four judges snort with childish laughter at Laura's innocently filthy question from where they were standing at the side of the dance hall.

'Well, you'll be in the midst of a faux downpour, so yes. Wet.' Anthea explained as all of the contestants looked on in disbelief. Anthea looked around at all of our faces before continuing. 'We need to put on a show stopping performance. Something…dramatic!' She said with flair, gesturing wildly with her hands. I looked over at the four judges who were still leaning against the wooden wall of the dance studio with grins plastered on their faces, unable to hide their glee at the fact we had to do this. Cook leaned over to Naomi and whispered in her ear before a loud laugh echoed around the studio. Anthea glanced over at where the laugh had come from and frowned. 'You lot will get soaked where you're sitting, so I don't know what you are so chipper about' she commented before whirling around to face us again. 'We're going to have next to no time to run through this, so let's get started. These will literally be 'dry-runs' before we bring on the RAIN'

We spent the rest of the day working on the performance, thankfully without the 'rain', and were now heading back to base, each one of us as knackered as the next. I was slumped in the back of a blacked out seven seater waiting for the others when the door slid open to reveal Naomi stood there.

'Hey…'

'Hey, hop out, I want to show you something' she said, a devilish glint in her eye. I cocked an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of me. I slid out of the car and followed her lead back into the studio. We passed a gaggle of contestants on our way who asked me where I was going, but before I could answer them Naomi piped up with a stern tone to her voice.

'She needs to work on her performance, and she isn't leaving here until it's perfect. I'll arrange transport home for her.'

The contestants looked at me sympathetically as I quickly changed my look of confusion to one of embarrassment for their benefit, waving a silent goodbye as they walked towards the car. I heard Naomi chuckle in front of me as she carried on walking.

'It's scary how you can turn that on and off' I commented, still blindly following even though I was clueless as to where we were going.

'Tell me about it. But it comes in handy from time to time' she commented as she led us through to the actual show studio that we only used on Saturday night through double doors at the back of the room. It was eerily quiet and pitch black, but Naomi strode confidently down the aisle between rows and rows of seating, stopping a quarter of the way down, probably because she didn't hear my footsteps behind her. 'You okay?' she asked with an amused tint to her voice.

'Yeah, just trying not to trip over and die, you know'

Naomi laughed and I heard more than saw her come towards me and take my hand, leading me down towards the front of the stage. I gulped a little at the contact, the way our hands seemed to fit. We reached the stage and had to climb up the steps, which even Naomi did a bit carefully, before she instructed me to wait there and she headed into the darkness. I sat on the steps leading to the stage in silence for a few minutes before the lights suddenly came on, momentarily blinding me.

'Shit, sorry. Maybe should have warned you that would happen…' Naomi sheepishly said from behind me. I turned around, my eyes squinted slightly still trying to get used to the light.

'It's fine. But whatever you wanted to show me is now irrelevant; I won't be able to see it'

Naomi chuckled and walked over to me, again grabbing my hand and dragging me onto my feet and onto the stage before pointing wordlessly towards the middle of the expansive area. I took my attention away from her face begrudgingly and towards where she'd pointed. I felt my eyebrows shoot upwards at the sight before me. The entire central section of the stage had been transformed into a pool of water, Perspex edges keeping the 3 inches of water confined to the centre of the stage. I furrowed my brow and took a few tentative steps towards it, looking upwards in order to confirm the fact that there were numerous sprinklers set up ready to add to the pool of water where we'd be performing tomorrow. I glanced around, noticing the switch for the sprinklers located towards the back of the pool of water.

'You know what, I knew Anthea was crazy, but this is just…crazy'

'I know, right? She gets an idea in her head and you'd be an idiot to try and stop her. She came up with this concept this morning and it's already been put in place. Impressive though, right?'

I couldn't help but nod in agreement at her statement. 'Won't we electrocute ourselves?' I asked suddenly as the thought popped into my head. Naomi chuckled from where she remained over at the side of the stage and I heard her start to approach.

'I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow that to happen.' She was standing next to me now, looking over the massive square of water. I leaned down and put my hand in the water to test the temperature, a look of surprise on my face as I realised it was warm. I slipped my Toms off and hopped over the perplex fence into the water as Naomi looked in disbelief. 'What the…?'

'I can get a head start on the choreography in the water' I laughed, as I started to do the steps we'd learned earlier in the day, pretending to hold the umbrella that would have been my prop. Naomi looked on with an eyebrow raised before slipping her own shoes off and joining me. I watched as she joined me, doing the steps in perfect time with me. 'How…?'

'It's funny what you pick up after an afternoon of perving on you trying to nail this choreography' she said cheekily as she span in the water. I stopped doing the moves and kicked water in her direction, snorting with laughter as it spattered all over the back of her grey jeans and white top. She spun round with purpose, leaning down and cupping water within her hands and throwing it at me. I dodged it, hearing it land in the water behind me as I stood up straight and smiled smugly at my near miss, faltering when I saw her concerned gaze looking at the floor behind where I was stood. 'Shit.' I followed her anxious stare to where it was fixed behind me, assuming that the water had gone somewhere it shouldn't. As soon as I turned around I heard movement in the water and felt my legs be taken out from underneath me leaving me on my back in the water with Naomi towering over me. 'That was too easy.' I stayed where I was, the shock of the water freezing me to the spot. I sat up slowly as Naomi took a few steps backwards, obviously out of the danger zone. I got up slowly, looking down at my drenched clothes before looking up to see a guilt stricken Naomi stood in front of me, a real look of concern now clouding her features at my speechlessness.

'Nicely done Campbell.' I said good-humouredly in order to ensure she knew I wasn't annoyed. I shook off my legs one at a time using the action to sneakily take a few steps back into the pool. Naomi, either consciously or subconsciously, took a few steps forward in time with mine so no more distance was made between us. I was now at the side of the pool and she was loitering in the middle, watching me anxiously. I knelt down quickly and flicked the switch that activated the sprinklers and looked up, laughing as I saw the water begin to cascade and almost immediately drench Naomi and myself. I watched as her face turned from horrified to amused, and eventually we were both laughing under the water, dancing around without a care in the world. I looked over at Naomi at the same time as she caught my eye. Her blue eyes were sparkling, her face looking the happiest I'd ever seen it as water cascaded across her features. I felt the image burn onto my brain, knowing that this was a moment I'd never forget. I took a step towards her and tenderly moved a strand of hair out of her face as her eyes never left mine.

'You're amazing'

She leaned down as soon as the words left my mouth, capturing my lips in a kiss. I felt her arms wrap around my waist as my hands snaked around her neck, the water still cascading from the ceiling and pooling around our feet. Our lips moved together until Naomi gripped harder onto my waist, pulling me closer to her, immediately increasing the intensity of the clinch. Her tongue swept lightly against my bottom lip and I accepted her offer, moaning as the kiss became a tussle of passionate tongues, sliding my hands around her neck and losing my hands in her hair as I pulled her ever closer towards me. I shuddered as her hands worked their way underneath my tee and meshed together in the small of back and moved my hands, dragging them down her back until I reached the hem of her shirt, biting her bottom lip quickly before pulling back and lifting her top upwards, not caring about where we were, and she didn't seem to either as she moved her hands and held them above her head to allow me to rip the vest off in one clean movement before she slid my own tee-shirt over my head and slung it in the general direction of where we'd ditched our shoes. She reclaimed my lips again, her hands running over my back, her thigh settling between mine, her presence seemingly everywhere all at once. I felt her step backwards, her grip having moved to my face, causing me to step with her.

'Not here' she spoke breathlessly, pulling me behind her, abandoning the wet tops and shoes and dragging me towards the side of the stage, the pair of us leaving puddles in our wake. As soon as we stepped through the curtains backstage she pulled me into her and walked us a few steps back so she had me pinned against the wall. I could still hear the water falling loudly from the ceiling to the pool underneath. I felt a wave of concern come over me that we should turn it off, looking in the direction we'd just come from.

'It's got a drainage system' Naomi whispered in a sexy croaky voice, somehow reading my mind, yet simultaneously making me forget my concerns as she ran her hands up my sides, taking my arms with her and pinning my hands above my head. She looked into my eyes before flicking them down to my lips. I took this as an invitation to carry on, leaning into her and pressing my mouth to hers, taking her surprise at the movement to catch her off guard and flip us so that I was now pinning her to the wall, my thigh pushed between hers, our lips still connected. I interlocked our hands and held them at our sides, my rational brain telling me that we shouldn't take this any further, but still not wanting to stop. I moved my kisses along her jaw line, kissing down her neck, feeling her throat vibrate as she moaned at the contact. It was this that pulled me out of the haze I'd fallen into, my rational brain finally fighting through.

'We should stop' I husked, immediately annoyed at myself that THIS was the moment I chose to allow my sensible head to guide me. I looked up at Naomi who was staring at me, biting her lip, her head nodding slowly.

'We should stop' She repeated, leaning in and kissing me lightly on the lips, untangling our hands on one side but remaining connected on the other as she led us back out to pick up our clothes. I watched as she braved the water again to flip the switch and turn off the water, perving on the bare skin on show, allowing myself a proper look at her slender body, before noticing that the sudden quiet was once more casting an eerie feel over the room. I looked down at the water level and saw that there was still about 3 inches of water along the bottom of the Perspex pool, a feeling of relief rushing over me that we wouldn't have to try and explain anything away in the morning. I reached down and picked up my top, pulling it over my shoulders and slipping my feet into my Toms yet again. I felt a shiver run through me at the prolonged stay in the water and looked over to Naomi who had pulled on her top and was now slipping her feet into her own shoes.

'Thanks for showing me this' I gestured to the pool 'it was well worth being blinded for'

Naomi smiled at my ridiculous joke, running her hand through her drenched hair before gesturing with her head towards the doors at the back. 'You think you can make it to the doors in the dark without having to hold my hand this time?' She teased as she went to get the lights.

'No, I don't think so. I reckon you're going to have to help me out'

I heard a playful chuckle before the lights went out and the room was covered in a blanket of nothingness. I stood stock still until I felt a hand encase mine and interlace our fingers, leading me towards the exit. 'You know what we'll have to do on the drive back, don't you.' I stated.

'What's that?' Naomi questioned as we wandered along the aisle towards the exit.

'Come up with an explanation for my wet clothes.'

I heard her chuckle. 'What makes you think I'm going to let you in my car in those wet clothes?'

**A/N - Sorry about my rubbish updating. Exams and revision and stuff...**


	18. Invite

**Disclaimer - I own nothing. **

**-Naomi-**

The next few weeks of the competition breezed by in a blur of rehearsals, interviews and arguments. Business as usual for Naomi Campbell and the UK Idol process, except for one slight difference…I had been making time in my usually crammed schedule for the red-headed object of my desires. We snuck around like teenagers, catching make-out sessions whenever we could, but still hadn't really found time to actually get together. Emily had also been getting on brilliantly in the competition, proving to be very likeable across the board, so had soared through the past two live shows, earning particular praise for the group performance of 'Singing in the Rain' which had clocked up millions of YouTube hits already.

I was watching said YouTube video again when there was a knock on my dressing room door, prompting me to quickly exit the webpage. I accounted for a lot of those YouTube views.

'Yeah, it's open' I yelled, slamming down the lid of my MacBook.

'Hey'

'Oh, hi' I said, unnecessarily flustered at the sight of the real Emily, not just the dancing, rainy one.

'You okay?' She asked uncertainly, obviously catching my nervous behaviour, her head tilted slightly to the side to add to her questioning tone.

'Yeah, I was just…nothing. I'm fine, all good. What's up?' I rambled, much to the amusement of Emily, who seemed to sense she'd caught me doing something but obviously decided not to pry.

'Just came by to say that everyone is going to that premiere tonight…the one with Ryan Gosling in it…' She looked into the air, maybe for inspiration, before giving up 'I can't remember what it's called. But we've all been invited and Anthea says we have to go, and I was wondering if you're going?'

'Am I going? To the premiere?' I asked stupidly.

Emily chuckled and looked at me as though I'd taken something. 'Yeah. Are you going to be there?'

'Why?' This seemed to take her aback a bit, as the slight smile that was on her lips turned into a frown, and I immediately regretted being such a doughnut. 'I mean, why do you HAVE to go?'

'Exposure or something like that'

'Well, then yeah, I suppose I'll come along, if the other three are. Definitely.' I answered, looking into her brown eyes and watching them brighten at my answer, causing a colossal release of butterflies in my belly.

'Cool. I reckon we'll all be heading in together, but I was hoping that maybe we could get a drink afterwards, just you and me, because we said we would, and the last few weeks have been fun, what with all the kissing and stuff, but it'd be good to just hang out with you for a bit properly, y'know' Emily ranted. I smiled and nodded along.

'That sounds perfect, yeah.'

'Good' She nodded, looking at me with a giant grin on her face, neither of us breaking eye contact until I widened my eyes after what felt like too long to simply stare at each other grinning. 'Urm, well I'll go then'

'Okay…I'll see you later. Later tonight'

'Yeah, I'm looking forward to it' She smiled before exiting the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts just as my phone buzzed.

'Hey Cook'

'Hey hey! Premiere tonight…free booze, VIP table and a chance to dance the night away with no worries of an Anthea-style bollocking because she actually wants us to go…we're picking you up at 7'

I was holding the phone away from my ear as he yelled excitedly and I smiled at his boyish enthusiasm. 'Yeah, Cook, I was planning on showing my face anyway. I've just got to find something to wear.'

'No, you haven't. Eff said she has it sorted and that she'll see you at your place in an hour. Said somethin' about dressing to impress, tonight's the night, and some other bollocks, so yeah, hurry yourself up and stop working for once. We're going to have a good one tonight Blondie, I can tell'

I furrowed my eyebrows at what he'd said, but decided not to probe him further as he wasn't a mine of information at the best of times.

'Okay Cook, see you at 7.'

'All tux-ed up and givin' Gosling a run for his money, don't you worry'

I laughed out loud, ended the call and went back to thinking about Effy's typical mysterious words, and hoped that Cook was right, that tonight was going to be a good night.

**A/N - It's been so long, don't know if anyone will even be interested in carrying on with this, but if you are let me know. Sorry about the LONG wait, and this chapter is just easing back into the story, but I will carry on and update regularly if people want to see more.**


	19. The Premiere

**-Emily-**

'Wow' Freddie breathed as I opened my bedroom door to let him in. 'You look great'

I smiled at his compliment and looked down at myself appraisingly before moving back to the dressing table to finish putting on my red lipstick. I was wearing a designer black dress, floor-length and strapless with my hair pinned up elegantly, thanks to the UK Idol hairdresser and some pretty smooth sweet talking. 'It's not too much is it?'

'No way, you look amazing.'

'You look good too Freds, who knew you scrubbed up so well' I joked, earning myself an eye roll before he did a 360 spin so I got a full view of his perfectly tailored black suit, complete with crisp white shirt and dark grey skinny tie.

'We all got sent suits, pretty sweet, right?!'

'Yeah, I got sent this.' I said, pointing at the dress 'I love all the free shit we get now' I laughed as I finished up my make-up and went over to grab Freddie a Corona from my beer fridge. 'What will we do when we have to start buying stuff again?' I joked, passing him his beer just as both our phones let out a message tone simultaneously. We looked at each other and grimaced.

'Katie.' We said in chorus.

'She wants a photo because she doesn't feel she should have to wait to see us along with everyone else when it comes out in tomorrow's Sun newspaper' Freddie frowned as he read the message aloud, obviously as much in the doghouse as I am for not being able to blag an invitation for Katie at such short notice.

'We aren't going to hear the end of this. Quick, come here and we'll send her a photo, but try not to look happy or excited.' I said quickly, deleting the duplicate message from my own iPhone before opening the camera app.

'Good plan.'

I handed the phone to Freddie so he could hold it in front of us and pulled my best bored expression for the camera. It flashed brightly, and I grabbed it to have a look if we look sombre enough. 'Freddie, you're smiling for fucks sake.'

'Look at you; you look like you're on your way to a funeral!'

'Yeah, that's actually perfect! She can't be jealous if we look miserable'

'But we look too fabulous to be miserable' Freddie complained. I turned my head slowly round to look at him, my eyes disbelieving. He looked at me sheepishly. 'Yeah, I said fabulous'

'You are such a moron.'

* * *

We were all shuffled into limousines with our own categories, after having a few glasses of champagne together in the kitchen, all of us dressed to the nines and feeling excited about our first red carpet experience. We'd been told we'd be meeting our mentors there, and I was looking forward to seeing Naomi, despite feeling a little nervous. We'd been sneaking around for two weeks now, without really discussing what we were doing or where it was headed, and while normally this would be the most ideal situation I could ever find myself in, I knew I wanted more with her. She was fascinating and beautiful and clever and scary. I found myself daydreaming about us meeting under different circumstances, normal circumstances. But the daydreams always take a turn, and I find myself blushing when someone eventually waves a hand in front of my face and brings me back to the now, pulling me from my thoughts of Naomi naked in a number of different scenarios. My mind has wandered once again to this dangerous place when I feel a poke on my shoulder, and turned to see that Laura and Mandy are pressed against the window looking out at the massive crowds.

'Look at how many PEOPLE there are' Mandy exclaimed excitedly. I moved over to the window to have a look with them, suddenly nervous at facing the massive crowds and hoards of photographers.

The limo pulled to a stop and within moments the door was being pulled open by the driver, who gallantly helped us all out as we all struggled to get out as gracefully as possible in our dresses and heels.

'Thanks Lyle that could have gone much worse' I joked with the man I'd got friendly with after our many drives together. He smiled warmly at me as I squinted under a sudden onslaught of flashes as the crowds and paparazzi noticed us. A woman dressed all in black came bustling over to us immediately, introducing herself as the person who was going to 'guide us through our first red carpet experience'. I stood wondering how hard it could be, before chancing a glance along the red carpet to try and spot Freddie, Naomi or an A-Lister, whichever came first. I wasn't fussy, until I spotted her through the throngs of people and I actually felt my jaw drop slightly at the vision standing about 50 feet away. She was stood with Effy, Cook and JJ in front of the photographers, waiting patiently for them to get their shots, the smallest hint of a smile on her face. I heard the busy woman who was guiding us onto the carpet tell us to stay where we were so they could get the mentors with their categories so we could walk the red carpet in little groups. I still hadn't taken my eyes off Naomi.

'She looks good, right?' I heard Freddie say, the smirk on his face evident in his voice. I turned to look at him, his eyes boring into me knowingly.

'Yeah, she looks pretty good' I said offhandedly. She looked stunning. Wearing a blue floor-length backless dress, showing off her amazing figure and flawless skin, her hair pinned expertly to the side of her head. Her make-up was classy, her jewellery understated. Effy looked gorgeous too, even against competition from Naomi, who obviously got my vote, wearing a short grey dress, showing off her legs, partnering it with killer heels and smoky make up, her glossy hair framing her face. Cook and JJ looked dapper in dark suits, Cook going all out with a tuxedo while JJ sported a three-piece.

'Pretty good?' Freddie repeated at me incredulously 'I've just picked your jaw up from the floor for you, but you can wipe the drool off your chin yourself'

I slapped him around the arm playfully, rolling my eyes. 'Shut up, dickwad. No harm in appreciating the female form, is there? I'm only human' I defended.

'No, of course not. And they are some fine female forms' he said appreciatively as he himself checked out the female judges.

'RIGHT!' we both jumped at the loud voice and clap that accompanied it, turning to look accusingly at the busy woman. 'The judges will be here momentarily, so group up accordingly and we'll get this show on the road. Just stand and smile for the cameras for as long as they take pictures, and move along and do the same for the next lot, etcetera etcetera. Feel free to stop for fans, or interviews, but you only have an hour to make it from here to the other end of this carpet, so don't hang around for too long. Oh…and don't 'fangirl' over any of the famous people, you'll get to meet them at the party afterwards'

I turned to Mandy and Laura at this, knowing they were hoping to mount any one of the hot male A-listers that were going to be littering the red carpet at various stages throughout the night. They had disappointed looks on their faces and I laughed as I headed over to them. I was a few feet away when I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and hold me back. I turned to see the eyes I frequently daydreamed about looking at me in a way that made me gulp. I read the look, having seen it on numerous girls before her, but never with this much intensity. Lust, passion and need lurked behind her twinkling yet darkened pupils.

'Hey'

'Hi'

'You look stunning' she said confidently, letting her eyes wander over me deliberately before settling them back on my face.

'Thank you. So do you. Like, so good' I said, widening my eyes as I finished the sentence, trying to break some of the tension that had settled around us with a joke. She bit her lip and smiled, her eyes flitting down to my lips almost imperceptibly, before she looked back up almost regretfully, letting go of my wrist for the first time, and I thought about how I missed the contact as we went over to the others before beginning our journey along the red carpet.

* * *

'I thought it was shit'

'No way! It was amazing!'

'It was okay. I wouldn't watch it again.'

I carried on drinking my champagne as everyone critiqued the film we'd just watched, not at all bothered, as I'd spent the majority of the screening concentrating on the fact that Naomi had slipped her hand into mine as soon as the lights went down, sending my heart into overdrive. I felt eyes on me, which was entirely possible, as we were in the VIP area of the most popular club in London, but as I scanned the room I caught the grey pupils of Effy Stonem burning into my own. I smiled awkwardly as I realised she had no intention of looking away, as was the creepy Stonem way, then noticed she was moving her head, trying to gesture for me to go over. I furrowed my brows and ditched the table of contestants.

'Answer your phone much?' she questioned.

'Huh?'

'I've been trying to call you'

'Oh, Freddie's got it. I don't have pockets' I said, patting my sides to prove my point in my designer gown, raising my eyebrows as I did so. 'Why didn't you just come get me? What's up?'

'It's a covert mission' she said, looking out into the room rather than at me, sipping her champagne and acting as though we weren't having a conversation. I looked at her as if she had lost her mind, which I thought she might have.

'A covert mission?' I questioned finally, as I saw she had no intentions of elaborating, or even looking at me.

'Yes. A plan has been hatched to get you out of here unnoticed, so follow my instructions carefully' I felt my forehead crease in confusion just as she carried on talking 'in a moment, I am going to give a signal and Cook is going to come over here and ask you to go outside with him for a cigarette. You are going to say yes, and follow him into the smoking area. When you get there, JJ will be waiting. You will approach him, and he will hug you. In the process of hugging you, he will pass you a key. You will take the key and hide it in your hand, before making your way to the back of the smoking area where you will find a door and then wait for Cook to create a distraction. You need not know what the distraction is, but you will know when it happens. As it does, you will use the key to open the door and shut it behind you.'

My eyes were like saucers as I listened to her calmly deadpan this entire speech, still not looking at me, instead letting her eyes continue to wander around the room with a bored expression on her face. I was silent as my brain tried to decide which question to voice of the million questions that had started buzzing in my brain. Before I go the chance to pick one, I noticed her run her hand through her hair, and almost as quickly as she'd done it, Cook approached from the side.

'I'm goin' for a fag, you comin' Emilio?' he asked casually, pulling a packet of Marlboro out of his inner breast pocket and smoothly pushing one up and in my direction. I looked nervously at Effy, who looked at me for the first time since I'd walked over, a small smile on her lips and her eyes twinkling knowingly, with a hint of challenge in them. I took a breath and took the offered cigarette out of the packet and looked down at it, before looking back up at Cook.

'Sure, thanks Cook.'

'No problemo little Red. Follow me then' he smiled, offering me his arm, which I gladly took. Once we hit the smoking area, which was pretty busy, we attracted a bit of attention and I could see flashes coming from both inside and outside the fenced area. I spotted JJ hanging around in the middle of the area, chatting with a few people who I faintly recognised from the TV. As we approached, JJ smiled widely at me.

'Emily! Fantastic to see you' He enthused, before pulling me into a hug. I was slightly taken aback but caught myself in time to seamlessly take the key without fumbling it, or holding the hug too long. I stayed with JJ, Cook, and the two guys who turned out to be presenters on some other reality show for a few minutes before making my excuses and finding my way towards the door at the back, which I'd scoped out during the introductions with the presenters. I stood in what I hoped was a casual pose next to it, waiting for the next part of this plan to take place. I took the second I had to try to understand what the hell was going on, and why I was going along with it. I had a sudden sinking feeling I was part of an elaborate practical joke, but the thought was unceremoniously ripped from my head when a commotion formed in the middle of the smoking area, and every person made their way over there as all the cameras pointed that way too, flashing furiously. Curiosity got the better of me, and I quickly hopped up on a garden chair to see over the crowd and felt my mouth open in surprise at the sight of Cook with his trousers around his ankles, showing off his ridiculously hilarious tattoo. I hopped back down, surprisingly well considering the dress and heels situation, before putting the key in the lock and opening the door. I felt nervous, curiosity and excitement coursing through my veins in anticipation of what was waiting for me the other side.

* * *

It led into a garden which was beautifully lit with fairy lights and had pretty tables dotted around, so I figured it to be the outdoor space behind a trendy café or bar. Looking past the tables confirmed this, as the glass wall at the back of the building revealed more tables and a counter inside, all lit up but empty. Looking right through, you could see the street the other side. I frowned at the fact the place was deserted and looked over to the outdoor heater and noticed it was on, meaning someone had been here recently. I went to move towards the building when a door slid open, scaring me into jumping back slightly, my eyes widening. I heard her chuckle before she became clear under the outside lights in the otherwise dark garden and rolled my eyes out of embarrassment and amusement.

'I should have known'


	20. The Garden (mini-chapter)

**Sooo, wtf. Life, eh? I've been getting emails about this into an old account, which I rarely check, but every time I did and saw the alerts I meant to pick this back up and carry on. So I'm going to try and do just that! This is less of a chapter and more of a way for me to get back up to speed with the story and the characters and everything.  
**

**So i'll post this for now and then get a full proper chapter up by the weekend...**

* * *

**-Naomi-**

I took a moment after watching her cautiously move through the door at the end of the garden to just look at her, rather than make myself known right away. The gorgeous black dress she wore accentuated her fantastic figure. I watched as she gazed around the outdoor area, an adorably confused look clouding her face. I decided to make myself known and opened the back sliding door of the bar I had rented from a friend for the evening, and I chuckled as the sudden movement and noise startled her.

'I should have known' she almost whispered, as if scared to break the ambience created by the fairy lights, the nightfall and the quaint furniture surrounding us.

I smiled at her, and raised my eyebrow. 'What did you think was going to happen?'

'You know what, I don't know! Tonight has just been so crazy. The last few weeks. Everything!' She said, still talking at a lower volume than she normally did, but with a smile on her face and her eyes sparkling, filled with happiness. She was breath-taking. We stood and looked at each other for a second, before I finally snapped out of it.

'So…a drink?' I asked, gesturing into the bar.

* * *

I went and stood behind the bar, and goofily asked what I could get the lady. She giggled and peered behind me at the rows and rows of bottles full of different coloured liquids. 'Ve have vodka, gin, champagne?' I prompted, exaggerating a French accent. 'Beer, vino, tequila?' She rolled her eyes again, still smiling.

'I'll have a whiskey, on the rocks please'

'Coming right up Mademoiselle' I said, winking at her as I searched for a decent bottle.

'So, no one will notice our absence then?' She queried, watching me move ice from the bucket to her glass.

'No, I always duck out of these things early. They won't notice a thing.' I passed her the drink and she nodded as she sipped. 'I really wanted to spend some time with you tonight.' I added, deciding to just bite the bullet. I needed to tell her how I felt about her – the time had come to be upfront and I could tell she was getting fidgety about the sneaking around and the lying.

'I'm really pleased you did. This is so nice. To spend time with you, not worrying about someone walking in or suspecting something, y'know' she rambled, gesturing with the whiskey glass.

I smiled. 'I agree. It's also why I brought you here, to talk to you. About us.' Her eyes flicked up from her glass and directly onto mine. I appreciated them for a moment, before realising they looked slightly frightened. 'It's all good things, hopefully. I just, I know how difficult this must be. I know how hard it is anyway, but for you, like, I'm used to cameras and people snooping and I've got used to dealing with it and hiding things I don't want others knowing, but you, this is probably hard, not being able to be yourself and stuff. So I want you to know, I do get it, and I also understand that we haven't spoken about what this is and it is about time we did so, here we are. Here I am, trying to talk about it. With you.' I stopped and picked up my vodka soda and took a large gulp before chancing a glance in her direction. Her eyes danced with amusement and I rolled mine.

'What?' I questioned, annoyed.

'What?!' she questioned, amused. 'It's just so strange, seeing the mighty Naomi Campbell fumble her words and be so nervous! It's cute'

I felt myself flush.

'Aw, and now you're going red!'

'Shut the fuck up!' I yelled while laughing, reaching across the bar and shoving her so she had to reach forward and grab the bar to stay upright. She widened her eyes comically, then feigned outrage at my sudden act of violence.

'Well that is a lawsuit waiting to happen Miss Campbell!' she joked.

'However will I be able to keep your mouth shut about it?' I questioned, smirking at her, then I watched as she braced herself against the bar and pulled herself across it, holding her weight on her elbows and capturing my lips with hers. She tasted like whiskey and mints, and I smiled into the kiss, moving my hands to the sides of her face and holding her there.

* * *

**PS. ********The chapter I just posted before this one (The Premiere), I thought that was the last one I posted yonks ago but it didn't seem to be on here? So I have just posted that, and then posted this.  
**

**PSS. I am sorry for the long break in this story!**


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